


Hands Down

by standingonwords



Series: Doin' Somethin' Right [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-29 01:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/standingonwords/pseuds/standingonwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time for Rosa to challenge Roxie, for her second gym badge! Unfortunately; though, it seems her team isn't ready. However, she runs into Roxie again on her way out of the Pokémon Center, and the two decide to spend the day together. Will love blossom~?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The girl at the rock show

Rosa stared down the staircase that apparently led to the Virbank Gym. This was the right place according to the man she had asked for directions, but it just looked too seedy to be a gym. There was graffiti all over the walls, and trash spread everywhere. She took a deep breath— if this was some sort of trick, she was sure her Pokémon would be able to save her. She walked down the steps, keeping her Psyduck's Pokéball in her hand. Once at the bottom of the steps someone called to her, making her jump.

"Hey, are you here to challenge Roxie?" The person who had called her asked.

He was a bit older than her, and his shaved head and overall gruff appearance intimidated Rosa. He was talking to a similarly rough looking girl, although the girl didn't look too much older than Rosa. She decided against her better instinct to not send her Pokémon out right away.

"Um, y-yes. Am I in the right place?" Despite trying to come off as though she wasn't afraid of the man, she couldn't help but stammer.

He laughed, then said,

"Yeah, just go through the door at the end over there," he nodded his head toward the door her was directing her to, "You seem a little nervous; don't stress out! It's just a gym battle, there's nothing big at stake."

"O-okay."

Rosa started walking to the door. She tried to look as nonchalant as possible, while still paying close to the two people behind her. They went back to talking, disregarding Rosa completely. Rosa noticed the sound of music emanating from the room in front of her. She placed her hand on the door handle, but hesitated to take a deep breath before opening the door.

The sound of the music once Rosa opened the door was deafening. Rosa flinched at the volume, but nevertheless steeled herself and stepped forward. Roxie, the Virbank gym leader was the front-woman of the band on the stage, screaming into the microphone. The only other people in the room were sitting at the bar in the corner of the room, not really paying attention to what was going on the stage, which confused Rosa for a moment, before she realized that she probably only walked in on a rehearsal and not an actual show. She walked closer to the stage, hoping the gym leader would notice her. Sure enough, once Rosa had made it about halfway across the floor the gym leader signaled to her band to stop playing. Rosa felt all the eyes in the room staring at her, and started to blush. Every second of this awkward silence made Rosa feel more and more embarrassed, until it was finally broken by Roxie asking into the mic,

"Hey, you here to challenge me?"

Rosa nodded her head a few times quickly.

"All right then."

Roxie put her bass down in a stand behind her, then hopped off the stage and walked over to Rosa.

"You ready? I'm not going to go easy on you."

Rosa wasn't actually sure how ready she was, come to think of it. Of her three Pokémon, only her Psyduck really could do anything to poison-types— neither her Servine nor her Riolu would stand much chance against Roxie's Pokémon. It was too late to back out now though, regardless.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

She decided there was no point in worrying about it now; and immediately felt the confidence she had when she first arrived at Virbank returning.

"All right then." Roxie said, taking her first Pokéball in her hand, "It looks like you have three Pokémon, so how about an even three-on-three match?"

"Okay."

Rosa ignored the last twinge of doubt she had as she sent out her Psyduck. He let out a confused quack, holding his head in his hands. Rosa admittedly didn't have much of a strategy for this fight, just planning to have Psyduck use Confusion— of course if Psyduck fainted she had nothing else that could stand a chance against Roxie's poison-types, so this was a bit of a gamble.

"Go, Koffing!"

Roxie threw down her first Pokéball, and in a flash of light out came her Koffing.

"Koffii~!" It said jovially.

"Psyduck, use Confusion!"

"Psy...?"

Psyduck sent out a burst of psychic energy toward Roxie's Koffing. It connected, and sent Koffing tumbling back.

"No! Koffing use Smog!"

Koffing hovered towards Psyduck, and once it was close enough let out a puff of noxious smelling smoke. Rosa had to cover her nose, despite being several feet away.

"Ew... Psyduck, Disable!"

"Ps-psy..."

Psyduck let off another pulse of psychic energy. Rosa noticed that Psyduck looked like it was suffering. Upon closer inspection, Rosa realized that he must've been poisoned by Koffing's attack.

"Oh no, Psyduck!"

"Venoshock, Koffing!"

Floating over Psyduck, Koffing dumped a disgusting-looking green slime onto Psyduck's head. The slime covered Psyduck completely, before pulsing several times. Psyduck dried out; then fell to the ground, defeated.

"Oh no..."

Rosa was unable to take out even one of Roxie's Pokémon before her strategy fell apart. She recalled Psyduck; then sent out her Servine. His weakness to poison-type attacks probably had already doomed her to failure, but she hadn't trained Riolu enough for this fight, and he probably would have too much trouble doing damage to Koffing.

"Leaf Tornado, Servine!"

Servine sent a vortex of leaves at Koffing. The attack connected, hard. Koffing was tossed to the ground. Before Rosa could celebrate the defeat of Roxie's first Pokémon; however, it got back up, though obviously on its last ropes.

"Poison Gas!"

Koffing made its way over to Servine, slowed due to being weak.

"Stay away from it Servine, then use Leaf Tornado again!"

Servine stayed out of Koffing range long enough to attack again. Koffing was blown to the ground again, and this time it didn't get back up.

Roxie recalled her Pokémon,

"Good job, Koffing." She reached for her second Pokéball, "Okay, Grimer, go!"

Rosa deflated as she realized she still had two of Roxie's Pokémon to go. She shook the thought of losing out of her head— she needed to think positively! As long as she could believe that she would win, she would! That's what always happens in her favorite anime! Her resolved steeled, Rosa shouted her next command to Servine,

"All right Servine, Leaf Tornado!"

* * *

"Here are your Pokémon back, miss," said the Pokémon Center Nurse as she handed Rosa back her three Pokéballs.

"Thank you..."

Today Rosa learned the hard way that just because believing in yourself was enough to ensure victory worked in anime didn't mean it also worked that way in real life. With a sigh, Rosa made her way to the exit of the Pokémon Center. She was going to need to train a bit more before she could take on Roxie again, and maybe try catching some more Pokémon. As she stepped outside she noticed Roxie walking in her direction. Rosa hoped Roxie wouldn't notice her, still embarrassed over the outcome of their battle. Unfortunately for Rosa, it seemed Roxie was specifically looking for her,

"Hey! Uh... Trainer!" Roxie was waving, trying to get Rosa's attention. Rosa considered trying to run away as fast as she could, but before she knew it Roxie was already right in front of her, "Hey, um... Sorry, I don't think you told me your name. I just came to ask if you were planning on challenging me again soon."

"Oh, um, my name's Rosa."

Now face-to-face with her and without any outside distractions, Rosa realized that Roxie was actually pretty attractive. She found herself blushing, and at a loss for an acceptable answer for Roxie,

"I-I'm going to challenge you again, for sure. I need to train a little more first, though."

"That's understandable. Hey, you want to go out for lunch together?"

Her decision to use the words 'go out' felt to Rosa as a deliberate tease.

" Y-yeah!"

"Cool, I know a good place, follow me." She grabbed Rosa by the wrist and led her away, "so Rosa, where are you from?"

"Aspertia."

"Oh cool, that's not too far away. So you're actually a pretty new trainer, then? That makes sense. Oh! Uh, no offense."

"I-it's fine." Hearing her say that did sting a little, but it was true, right? All she needed was more experience as a trainer.

"I heard there was a new gym opening in Aspertia, have you fought that gym leader yet? Uh, Sharon, I think her name was...? Something like that."

Rosa giggled.

"The gym leader's a boy. His name is Cheren."

Roxie laughed at Rosa's correction.

"I beat him already; I got my first badge from him."

"Cool. So what are you planning to do after you beat me?"

Hearing her say that so nonchalantly sounded weird to Rosa, as if she was expecting it sometime really soon.

"Um... I dunno. There's a ferry to Castelia here in Virbank, right? I think that's where I'll go next."

"Castelia's a pretty huge city, have you ever been there before? If you don't know your way around it's pretty easy to get lost."

"I've never been to Castelia before, but I think I'll be fine."

Rosa hadn't thought about that before. Now that the thought was in her head; though, she felt an inkling of dread about leaving for Castelia.

"If you want..." Roxie trailed off, piquing Rosa interest in what she would suggest, "I could go with you. I've been to Castelia a few times, I could show you around."

"Sure! That'll be fun!"

It took a second for it to sink in, but before long Rosa's mind raced at the possible implications as to why Roxie wanted to come with her.

"Cool." Rosa noticed Roxie said 'cool' a lot. "Here, this is the place."

It was a small pizzeria, the exterior of which looked rather run-down, making Rosa feel hesitant about eating there.

"I know it looks like a crappy place, but trust me, they have great pizza and gyros."

"If you say so." Rosa said, not fully convinced.

The two walked into the restaurant, and as soon as the door opened Rosa's nose was bombarded by the delicious smell of the food being cooked. The restaurant was actually mostly empty; there were only a few people inside, and no line of people waiting for food. There were two people behind the counter cooking food, a young man, probably a few years older than Rosa, and an older, chubby man. The chimes over the door alerted them to the new customers, and the older man turned around.

"Hey, Roxie!" He said jovially, "I see you've brought a friend, what'll you two be having?"

"Hey Elias! I'll have a beef gyro, what do you want, Rosa?"

"Um, I guess I'll have the same thing."

"Okay, two beef gyros, coming up!"

Roxie walked over to an empty table by the window; Rosa followed her. Roxie pulled a chair out dropped herself into it, while Rosa was more delicate. Roxie rested her head in her hand and stared out the window as if deep in thought. After a few seconds of silence she stretched, then said,

"So my band has a show tonight, wanna come watch? I can even get you in for free if you want."

Rosa had never been to a rock show.

"That sounds cool! I'd love to come."

"All right, awesome. I have some things to do, so I'm going to have to leave after we eat, but doors open at seven. Meet me outside the Virbank gym at six-thirty; I'll get you in and introduce you to my band and some of the guys we're playing with."

"Okay, I'll be there."

"So, do you listen to my band much?"

Rosa didn't really listen to much music, only really to the radio. She had heard a few of Roxie's band's songs, but not really enough that she felt she could call herself a 'fan'. She didn't know whether she should lie.

"Um... Not really. Only what I've heard on the radio." Rosa winced slightly, expecting Roxie to be angry with her.

"That's cool; you didn't really peg me as someone who would listen to our type of music anyway."

"So... Um..." Rosa tried to think of a topic, rather than continue being on the receiving end of the questions, "Uh, so how long have you been playing guitar?"

"Well, actually I play bass; I did start with guitar though! When I was younger. When I was in like second grade I think I started taking lessons, but I got bored of it after a few years. A friend of my dad gave me an old bass guitar as a present for my fourteenth birthday; I basically taught myself, but I've been playing ever since."

"That's so cool! I wish I could play an instrument."

"It's fun. Maybe if you come back and visit after you're the Champion or whatever I can give you some lessons."

"I-I don't think I'm good enough to be the Champion." Rosa blushed slightly. Roxie laughed.

"Don't think like that! You only just started; I bet you totally have what it takes to be the Champ."

"Th-thank you..." Rosa felt embarrassed at Roxie's compliments, especially considering she had just lost to her.

"Hey you two, your food's ready!" The man behind the counter shouted.

Roxie sprang up,

"I'll get it."

She briskly made her way across the restaurant, picked up the food and made her way back to the table.

"Have you ever had a gyro before? Trust me, they're really good." Roxie said as took a plate off the tray and placed it in front of Rosa.

She sat back down and began eating. Rosa took a hesitant first bite, and as the delicious combined taste of the meat, vegetables, and the strange sauce hooked her instantly. She devoured the gyro, and almost immediately felt embarrassed at her lack of self control. Roxie smirked,

"I told you they were good, didn't I?"

"I-it was..."

Roxie finished her gyro off; then stood up.

"Don't worry about paying, I'll cover you."

"You don't have to; I have money."

"It's fine, I don't care; I have to spend the prize money I got from you somehow, right?" She said, with a playful gleam in her eyes.

Rosa tried to think of a good comeback but was unable to think of one.

She followed Roxie over to the counter regardless, and after Roxie paid the two left the restaurant together. Roxie checked the time on her X-Transceiver; then cursed under her breath.

"I'm running late, so I have to leave right now. You better be at my show tonight; you promised!"

Rosa giggled,

"I'll be there."

* * *

Rosa found herself waiting outside the Virbank gym, despite getting there at six-fifteen. She didn't want to be late, and now that she was there didn't see a point in leaving. She stood across from the entrance, watching the ships coming into port for the night some distance away. Her mind wandered to Roxie. With a sigh she leaned forward, so she was staring down at the water below her. Rosa was confused about her feelings toward the cute punk rocker— they spent a good amount of time together today, and the entire time Rosa had a strange feeling in her stomach that she couldn't describe, like she was going to be sick, but still pleasant. Maybe she was in love? Rosa laughed at the thought. She found herself wondering what Roxie's opinion of her was. She didn't hate her, at the very least. She stepped back away from the rail to stretch; then checked her X-Transceiver for the time. It was a bit after six-thirty; Roxie shouldn't be too much longer. Rosa leaned back down on the railing. Would Roxie really come with her to Castelia? Rosa would really like that. As she stared out at the sea she didn't notice someone sneaking up on her. The person wrapped their arms around Rosa's chest and yanked her back. Rosa screamed and flailed her arms back, hitting her assailant and causing them to drop her. She sprung up, ready to face her attacker, only to see Roxie and her band mates laughing. Roxie— Rosa's 'assailant'— held her hand out to help Rosa up.

"That was pretty good, Rosa." Roxie said, with a huge grin on her face.

"Y-you scared me..." Rosa said as Roxie pulled her to her feet.

"Come on, it was only a joke!" Roxie turned and motioned to her band mates, "Anyway, this is Nicky and Billy Jo; the drummer and guitarist in my band, respectively. Guys, this is Rosa."

"So Roxie said you're going to help us with our equipment tonight?" Nicky said. He was rather intimidating-looking, with his shaved head and studded leather jacket.

"Oh yeah... That's the condition for getting in free: you gotta help us set up our crap." Roxie said, sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

"That's okay, but isn't your stuff already set up? It was when I challenged you earlier."

"I must've forgotten to tell you that we're not playing here then... Well, we're playing at a place near Mistralton; we already packed everything into Billy Jo's van, so we're pretty much ready to go. It's parked over here, come on."

Rosa followed the three musicians to a beat up old van. It was one of the commercial vans, with no windows in the back, and was maroon in color. Billy Jo walked around to get in the driver seat, while Nicky got in the passenger side, leaving Rosa and Roxie together in the back. Roxie pulled open the sliding door, revealing that there was only one seat, the rest of the space in the van filled with the band's equipment.

"Yeah, we're gonna have to share this seat."

"Neither of you are too big, you should both fit fine." Billy Jo said.

"You don't mind do you?" Roxie asked Rosa.

"No, it's fine."

"All right, great. Let's get going then."

Roxie climbed in first; then helped Rosa in. Rosa slammed the door shut (on her second try; the door being heavier than it looked) and they were off.

* * *

Nobody talked much during the ride, due to Billy Jo playing excessively loud music the whole way. The venue was rather unremarkable looking from the outside, entirely indistinguishable from the surrounding warehouses. The only hint that they were at the right place was the long line of people waiting in line to get inside. Billy Jo pulled the van around to the back of the building, where another band was already unloading a small truck. As soon as the van slowed to a stop a girl with hair dyed deep blue pressed her face against the back window, blowing a raspberry at Roxie.

"You trying to start a fight?!" Roxie yelled. The two glared at each other, and Rosa was worried that a fight was actually about to break out, until the two began laughing, almost in unison.

Roxie rushed Rosa out of the car, then ran over and embraced the other girl.

"It's been a while, Roxie." She said.

"You're telling me! So how was Hoenn?"

"Pretty fun! They really seemed to like the ska band we were touring with more than us though."

"Yeah, they're like that over there, it's kind of weird." Roxie paused for a second; then motioned for Rosa to come over. As soon as Rosa reached Roxie's side Roxie wrapped her arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tightly, "So Rosa, this is Sheena. Her band is playing tonight too. Sheena, this is Rosa, my new best friend."

Sheena laughed,

"You've replaced me? Harsh." A sly smile formed on her face, "So how's the sex?"

Both Rosa and Roxie turned an impressively bright hue of red.

"Wh-what are you talking about?!" Roxie let go of Rosa's shoulder to shove Sheena backwards.

"It was a joke!" Sheena was laughing, "You still take everything too seriously, Roxie."

"Hey, you three! Stop horsing around, we need to unload." Billy Jo called out. Her and Nicky had already gotten to work.

"Ha, sorry to get you two in trouble. I'll talk to you later, I guess." Sheena said, with a quick wave she walked back over to her own band.

"Hmph, she could've at least helped us…"

Roxie jumped into the back of the van and pulled an amp to the door. Rosa was surprised, either the amp was lighter than it looked or Roxie was stronger than she looked,

"Rosa grab the other side, make sure not to drop it."

Rosa hurriedly did as she said. The amp was heavy, though not as heavy as Rosa thought it would be. The two lowered the amp slowly. Once it was down Roxie grabbed some smaller things and placed them on top of the amp.

"It's on wheels, so this takes a few trips away for us." She explained.

After being satisfied with the amount of equipment on the amp Roxie slung her bass's case over her shoulder and hopped out of the van.

"Just help direct it."

"Okay." The two girls each grabbed a handle and pulled the amp to the open doors of the building.

Focused on getting their work done, they didn't speak at all— barring curt orders from Roxie directing Rosa— until they were finished.

"So what now?" Rosa was slightly out of breath; they had worked hard and fast.

"Now we relax, and enjoy the music!"

Roxie grabbed Rosa by her wrist, and led her out of the backstage area to the front area of the venue.

The front area was huge. Rosa was surprised— the building didn't even look that big from the outside. There was a large bar at the back, along with two smaller ones to each side of the stage. Roxie led Rosa over to the bar, stopping to explain the mixing booth in the center of the main audience pit. At the bar, Roxie hopped into a chair, and was instantly recognized by the bartender.

"Hey, you're Roxie! Oh man, I'm a huge fan!" He said.

"Ha, yeah, well, you could show your appreciation by giving me and my friend some drinks on the house."

"Well, I guess I cou- Wait, you're under twenty-one aren't you? I can't serve you alcohol, I'll lose my job!"

"Come on, I'm performing tonight! We won't tell anyone, promise."

"Sorry... I mean, I would if it was up to me, I swear!"

"Man, whatever, it's cool." Roxie slid off the barstool and grabbed Rosa's wrist again. As she pulled her away she muttered under her breath, "One day, that's going to work."

Roxie led Rosa backstage again, then to the green room. Nicky and Billy Jo were there, as was Sheena and a few other people.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Roxie said, getting everyone's attention. She motioned to Rosa, "This is my friend, Rosa. Rosa, these are some of the people in the other bands tonight."

She scanned the group quickly twice, the second time with a suspicious glare in her eyes.

"There's too many of you people, introduce yourselves. Sheena, where's Damian?"

"I dunno, probably hiding out in his car or something, you know how he is."

"Um, who's Damian?" Rosa asked, curious as to why Roxie was interested in one specific person.

"Oh, just an idiot. We went out for while, but it ended weird, and he refuses to face me since."

"Oh." Rosa found herself feeling jealous for some reason. Hopefully she would get a chance to meet him.

Roxie dropped herself into an open chair, before pulling Rosa down into her lap. The other people in the room introduced themselves one at a time. After they finished Rosa listed out their names, making sure she had them right,

"So Bekka and Jason... You're in Sheena and that guy Damian's band, Northern Lights... Steve and... 'Lube'? Really? Um... Okay. You also have another guy named Travis in your band... Your band's called Violence? Okay..."

They were certainly a strange group of people. Rosa wondered if all musicians were like this. Rosa sat in silence while the group talked, wanting to join in, but feeling too out of place among them to comfortably do so. Before long a gruff, muscular man came into the room, telling Violence to get to the stage for their sound check. Steve told Lube to head over, and that he would go find Travis, and the two left. Everyone's discussion continued, once again leaving Rosa feeling left out. The sound of the band starting to play was audible from the green room, and Roxie took it as a cue to steal Rosa away again, back out front to watch the performance.

They were loud, aggressive, and rough. Not really Rosa's cup of tea, but there was something about the music that had Rosa enjoying it a lot more than she would expect. She found herself bobbing her head in rhythm with the music; before long she was all but actually dancing— she liked this music, a lot.

"It's pretty good, huh?!" Rosa barely heard Roxie yell over the music, despite her being only inches from Rosa's ear.

"Yeah!" Rosa didn't yell directly into Roxie's ear; her word being swallowed by the music, although her huge grin and vigorous nodding communicated the message just fine.

"You wanna go see what it's like in the crowd? We won't actually go into the pit or anything, just off to the side!"

After a moment of hesitation Rosa nodded excitedly— she was scared of getting swept away in the tightly packed crowd, but that same fear just made it more enticing. Maybe she could cling to Roxie with that as her excuse. Once again tugging Rosa by her arm— something that despite being rather annoying Rosa found herself beginning to enjoy— Roxie led Rosa to a calmer section of the audience off to the right side of the stage.

After a while the band finished their set and began clearing off the stage in preparation for the next band. The audience also drifted away now that the music had stopped, giving the two girls more room to stand. In only a few short minutes enough people had walked off for them to get almost right up to the stage, if they desired.

"So what did you think?" Roxie asked.

"They were good! I liked it."

"Next is Northern Lights— that's Sheena's band— they're not as punk as Violence for the most part, so you might like them even more."

"I can't wait!" Rosa was more interested in getting a glimpse at this Damian person than what the band actually sounded like, to be honest.

"Their audience doesn't get as rowdy as Violence's, so do you maybe want to get a little closer to the stage? If it does get too wild you could just grab onto my arm or something."

"Okay."

Roxie actually let Rosa walk on her own this time— likely because despite how open the front-of-stage area now was it still required maneuvering in order to avoid walking into other people. When they stopped they were only a few yards away from the stage and also almost in the center.

"When they actually start playing we're probably going to get pushed forward; don't fight it too much because you might get hurt, just focus on not falling down, I'll make sure we don't get separated."

"Is it going to be really rough?" Rosa asked, already regretting the decision to move forward.

"Nah, probably not that bad, they're not some huge famous band after all. Still, it's better safe than sorry."

"Oh, okay." Rosa said, relieved slightly.

The two stood without talking for a bit, instead choosing to quietly watch the crew set the stage for the next band.

"Um... Roxie?" Rosa's curiosity had gotten the better of her— she had to know more about Damian's relationship with Roxie, and this was her best chance.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could tell me— if you don't mind, that is— a little more about your relationship with that Damian guy?" Roxie gave Rosa a puzzled look.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess... It's nothing too interesting though; we met after a show we both had played at, hit it off, went out for a while... After a while we stopped seeing each other as much, got bored, I guess. One day he called me up for dinner, then at the end of the night broke up with me. I'm not exactly sure, but I think he thinks I took it really hard or something, because he always tries to avoid me now."

"I see..." Rosa didn't know what she had expected from Roxie's story, not to mention Damian was probably not Roxie's only past relationship.

"So, why were you so curious in the first place?"

Rosa turned red, and found herself desperately trying to think up a convincing lie.

"Uh... W-well, I dunno. It was just on my mind is all, since his band is about to play, I guess."

Rosa hadn't even finished giving her excuse before Roxie had stopped paying attention to her. Sheena had walked onto the stage, and Roxie was jumping and waving in an attempt to get her attention. She successfully caught Sheena's eye; she laughed before waving back. Roxie had seemingly completely forgotten what the two of them had been talking about, much to Rosa's relief.

"It shouldn't be too much longer before they start," was the last thing Roxie said as they waited, and sure enough, only a few minutes later the lights dimmed, completely darkening the stage while the band took their places. The audience began crowding again, Rosa already felt people shoving behind her, making her step a little forward. The band stood on the stage in silence, the anticipation for them to start playing making each second seemingly last forever, before the drummer counted them in on his open hi-hat and they jumped right into their first song.

Roxie didn't lie, they weren't as aggressive as Violence, but admittedly that didn't mean much— they were still pretty loud and rough-sounding. In one big surge the audience pushed forward, and Rosa found herself almost sandwiched between the people in front and behind her. She lost sight of Roxie, but before long she felt someone grab her arm; she looked back to see Roxie shoving the last few people between them away. She tried to yell something, but it was completely lost in the noise of the band.

Their first song was surprisingly short— it couldn't have been longer than two minutes. Instead of launching straight into their next song; though, the boy at the center of the stage began to introduce the band.

"Uh... Hey everyone! Thanks for coming out tonight. We're Northern Lights... I'm Damian..." As he trailed off Sheena and the other girl in the band, Bekka, introduced themselves before he continued, "And behind the drums in Jason; we don't give him a mic because we know it would end in tragedy, ha-ha. So, uh, like we're gonna play some more music for you guys, I hope enjoy it!"

They went into their next song which— to Rosa's surprise— was actually much lighter-sounding, with clean, undistorted guitars and at a more reasonable tempo. Rosa like this song better than anything she had heard previously tonight. They played two more songs in quick succession before stopping again. As Damian started speaking again Rosa decided to try and get a better look at him. His hair was dark, and he seemed about average height. He was moderately attractive, which Rosa had figured; he probably wouldn't have been able to convince Roxie to go out with him of he was ugly. He had stopped talking, and the band began playing again.

Now having heard several of their songs Rosa realized they were definitely a lot lighter, softer, and overall much more radio-friendly than Violence; which, for Rosa, was a good thing— she found herself really enjoying their music. After several more songs they stopped playing again, and while Damian was introducing what was apparently their last song of the night Roxie tugged Rosa closer, so she could say into her ear,

"My band's next, so I have to go backstage. Do you want to stay here?" Rosa just nodded. "Cool. You better still be here when we come on!"

"Good luck!" Rosa shouted.

Roxie just grinned and nodded her head to show that she heard her before shoving her way to the far wall.

"All right, we've been Northern Lights; we've had a great time playing tonight, and I hope you guys have enjoyed listening, too! This is our last song, good night!"

Just like with the first song the drummer counted in, though instead of launching into another fast, aggressive song this song opened with the band playing huge-sounding, long, drawn out chords while Damian soloed over them. Rosa found herself in awe of his skill. After the solo section ended the band went into the rest of the song, which was loud, but fun-sounding. The crowd around Rosa was engrossed in the music, and it didn't take long before Rosa let herself join them— not quite dancing, but still moving her whole body in rhythm with the music. After what felt like forever the song did eventually come to an end. Damian gave one last good night and thanked the crowd for listening before the band left the stage.

Once again, without a band to keep their attention the crowd dwindled, although less so than before; Roxie's band was the last band of the night, and also the main attraction, so people who were already close to the stage were reluctant to give up their spot. It wasn't until now that Rosa realized how far she had been pushed forward; she was only a few arms' lengths from the stage. She decided to get greedy, and moved closer to the stage— she wanted to make sure Roxie saw her, and though she was a bit worried about how rough the crowd would get, she decided to risk it.

Now on her own, all Rosa could do was awkwardly wait for Roxie's band to take the stage.

* * *

Once again the stage dimmed, though the band didn't come onto the stage as quickly; instead letting the audience stew in their anticipation for a bit. Soon the faint sound of a guitar began to come through the speakers, followed by drums. The entire band began chanting "Rox-ie". Strobe lights started flashing on the stage, revealing Billy Jo and Nicky, though Roxie was still hiding backstage somewhere. Soon the combined sound of the crowd, guitar and drums reached deafening levels; it felt to Rosa as if the crowd would riot if Roxie didn't show herself soon. As if on cue; however, all the spotlights on the stage lit up as Roxie ran in from the side of the stage and jumped forward into a power slide while simultaneously playing a thunderously loud bass note. She hopped back up, grabbed her mic and shouted into it,

"How you all doin' tonight?!"

The crowd answered by cheering loudly.

"Aw, come on, what was that? I asked you, how you all doin' tonight?!"

The crowd cheered even louder than before; even Rosa was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was a little to Roxie's left, but close enough that if she tried she would have no problem getting her attention, 'if she tried' being the key words— Rosa had no idea how to get Roxie's attention without making herself look silly.

"That was much better. Well anyway, we're Koffing and the Toxics!"

The audience cheered again.

"I hope the other bands treated you alright, but if not we're here to make it all better!"

They started playing their first song, which unfortunately was one that Rosa didn't know. Nevertheless she found herself enjoying it, and made a mental note to buy some of the music she had listened to tonight, not only of Roxie's band, but of Northern Light and Violence, too. They finished their first song and immediately went into their second— in fact there was not a single lull in their first set, which in total was five songs long. At the end of the fifth song, Roxie addressed the crowd again,

"So we doin' good so far?!"

Once more the crowd cheered in response.

"That's good then, 'cause we've still got a while to go!"

As the crowd continued to cheer the band started their next song,

"This next one's a cover: 'Young Girl', by the Distillers!"

Rosa cheered along with the crowd, despite never having heard of that band before. The opening riff sounded cool; though, and Rosa was already adding the Distillers to her list of 'bands to get music of'.

Roxie's second set was six songs long, and Rosa enjoyed every second of it. Roxie and Billy Jo just switched out their instruments and went to the next song. The third set was shorter than the first two— only four songs long. Roxie, now looking rather exhausted, spoke into the mic,

"All right, well we still have a few more songs to go tonight, but I just wanna thank you all for coming out tonight; you've been great! One last time though, let's hear it for the other bands that played tonight: Give it up for Violence!"

The crowd cheered.

"And give it up for Northern Lights!"

Again.

"This next song you should all know, so sing along!"

Rosa recognized the song as soon as Billy Jo started playing the main riff, though unfortunately she didn't know it well enough to sing along, except for the chorus. Towards the end of the song, right before it went into the last chorus; Sheena joined the band on the stage, singing along with Roxie before diving off the stage and getting carried all the way to the back. The band finished the song, then two more; then, as the next song was starting, Roxie addressed the crowd one last time,

"Okay, so this next song is it for tonight, so you guys better tear it up! We're Koffing and the Toxics, and you guys have been fucking awesome! Good night!"

Their last song was their loudest and fastest of the night. Throughout the entire length of it the crowd was absolutely insane— Rosa found herself getting tossed about like a small life raft in a hurricane. The song did eventually come to an end; however, and when it did the crowd got louder than it had been at any other point in the night— Rosa felt like she was in a jet engine. Rosa was waving her arms in the air like everyone around her, and it was then that she managed to catch Roxie's eye. Roxie extended her arm out to Rosa, who grabbed it only to be unexpectedly tugged forward; Roxie intended for Rosa to join her on the stage. Rosa successfully managed to climb up with the help of some other people in the audience who hoisted her up. Roxie gave Rosa a quick hug before spinning her around so she could get a good look at the crowd from the musician's vantage point. Rosa stared outward dumbstruck. Even though she didn't have to perform for them she was stricken with stage fright— anyone capable of getting in front of a crowd like that and not be paralyzed in fear had Rosa's eternal respect. Still waving out to the audience, Roxie put her arm around Rosa's shoulder, and the two slowly backed off the stage.

The two didn't speak until they made it back to the green room; it was just too for them to have been able to hear each other. Once back in the room; though, Roxie immediately turned to Rosa, and asked,

"So what did you think? Were we good? Did you like it?" She was shaking Rosa roughly by the shoulders, making it difficult for Rosa to answer. Rosa meekly pushed Roxie back, which was enough to get her to stop. Roxie gave her a hurt look, as if that had been a sign that Rosa didn't like her music.

"It was so good! I liked it so much; every band was so good!"

Roxie immediately brightened back up,

"Awesome! You've got good taste in music, then. Hey, so listen: There's a party at Steve's in a bit; you want to come?"

Rosa was conflicted. She definitely wanted to go and get to know these people more; and, most importantly, spend more time with Roxie, but if she stayed out too late she might not be able to make it to a Pokémon Center in time to rent a room. She decided to throw caution out to the wind— worst come to worst she could just go back home to Aspertia for the night.

"I'd love to!"

"Cool. Well, we've still gotta pack up the van, first."

The two— with Billy Jo and Nicky's help, of course— packed the van up at lightning speed, and before long were off.

* * *

Once again the ride was mostly devoid of communication in favor of loud music; Rosa didn't know how it didn't bother them— her ears were already ringing really badly. Roxie rushed Rosa out of the van as soon as Billy Jo parked. Once Rosa had gotten out of the way Roxie hooped out, then scanned the neighborhood several times before realizing she had no idea where their destination was.

"Uh... Which house is it?" She asked Nicky, who had just gotten out of the van himself.

He motioned to his left.

"We had to park around the block; it's over that way."

Roxie grabbed Rosa's wrist and led her in the direction Nicky pointed.

"All right Rosa, come on, let's go!"

Once on the right street Roxie picked out the house with ease— not that it was difficult, by any means, even Rosa would have been able to tell that the house with teenagers smoking out front was probably where the party was. Once inside the house Roxie immediately set out to find Sheena again. As Roxie led her around the house Rosa was surprised to see that it wasn't nearly as filled as she expected; she hadn't seen much more than a dozen people after combing almost the whole house. They did eventually find her, in the kitchen, with the rest of the group from the green room.

"Sheena!"

Sheena turned to see the two girls standing in the doorway. She walked over to them and handed them each a beer. With a playful wink she raised her finger to her mouth in a 'shushing' gesture and said to Rosa,

"Don't tell anyone you got it from me." She turned to Roxie, "You're a terrible, corrupting influence, you know."

The two girls laughed.

"Yeah, whatever. So, you guys were pretty good tonight— I mean, not as good as us but you know, it's not fair to compare you against perfection."

Sheena chuckled,

"Oh shut up. So how were we, Rosa?"

Rosa, who had been nervously staring at the bottle in her hands, looked up, surprised that Sheena decided to address her, even remembering her name.

"Y-you were really good!"

Sheena smiled,

"Thanks!"

She was incredibly nice, which was surprising to Rosa, who was just now noticing all her piercings, and that her blue hair was actually cut like a mohawk, but let down.

"So how did you two meet?" Sheena asked Rosa and Roxie.

"We had a gym battle today! She lost, but she seemed really cool, so we went out to lunch and I invited her to the show!"

"Yikes, so you brought her out to lunch, then took her to your show? What's next, are you planning on proposing to her tonight?"

"Stop that!" Roxie almost-shrieked, her face once again bright red.

She had gotten everyone's attention, and everyone was laughing— including Rosa. She had just barely opened her beer, but already was starting to loosen up around these people. Sheena, still laughing, lifted the beer in Roxie's hand up to her mouth.

"Calm down; it was a joke! Rosa thought it was funny."

Pouting, Roxie tugged her hand out of Sheena's before doing as she suggested and taking a long drink of beer.

"So how long can you stay 'til, Rosa?" She asked, deliberately turning away from Sheena as if to literally give her a cold shoulder.

"Um... Well, I was planning on renting a room in the Virbank Pokémon Center, but if it gets too late I can just go home to Aspertia for the night if I have to."

"If you want you could come to my place; my dad won't mind."

Rosa hadn't actually thought of that, although even if she had she probably would have been too shy to ask in the first place.

"Yeah, you two could even sl- Ow!"

Roxie had punched Sheena in the arm, stopping her from completing her sentence.

"That would be great!"

Rosa spent the rest of the night with the group of musicians, talking and laughing and drinking. Before she realized it was two in the morning, and they decided to call it a night. Roxie and Rosa found Billy Jo and Nicky outside, each smoking a cigarette; Nicky with a beer in his other hand.

"You two ready to go?" Billy Jo asked.

Roxie just nodded in reply, and the four walked back to the car together.

* * *

The van came to a stop outside what was apparently Roxie's house. Rosa opened the door and stepped out, but Roxie had to grab her bass out of the back of the van before following her. The air outside was chilly, and Rosa found herself shivering, hoping Roxie would be a little quicker. Once Roxie managed to free her bass from the back of the van, and after saying a quick goodbye to Billy Jo and Nicky; the two made their way inside the house. Roxie led Rosa up to her bedroom; slowly, because they both had had a bit too much to drink earlier. Once in her room Roxie flipped the light on, scratching the back of her head like she was forgetting something.

"Uh... This is my room. You can sleep on my bed; I'll sleep on the couch in the living room. If you want you could borrow a pair of pajamas."

"Um, that would be nice."

"Okay, give me a second."

Roxie walked over to her dresser and grabbed a t-shirt and pair of pajama pants from the top drawer. She handed them to Rosa, and said,

"I think this should fit you. I'll be back in a minute to check up on you."

She shut the door behind her as she walked out of the room. Rosa changed quickly— letting her hair down in the process— and found that Roxie's pajamas fit fine. She sat down on the bed, awaiting Roxie's return. As she waited she began to think. She really liked Roxie; like, like liked. She remembered Roxie's offer to visit Castelia together. She wondered how much Roxie meant it; obviously Rosa didn't think she didn't mean it at all, but she worried that for whatever reason Roxie would tell her at the last minute that she was too bust, or something, and couldn't go. Rosa would be heartbroken. She needed to let Roxie know how she felt about her, but what if Roxie didn't feel the same way? She might even go so far as to kick Rosa out of her house— no, that would be a little too extreme a thing for Roxie to really do. Rosa found herself brainstorming a safe way to admit her feeling to Roxie when there was a knock on the door, making Rosa jump. From the other side, Roxie asked,

"You dressed?"

"Yeah, you can come in." Rosa answered.

Roxie did so. She had changed as well, and had put her hair down, too. Rosa giggled.

"You look cute with your hair like that."

Roxie blushed.

"Th-thanks... Well, good night, I guess. I'll see you in the morning, or afternoon, or whenever we wake up."

"Good night."

Roxie turned to leave.

"W-wait!"

"Huh?"

By the time Roxie had turned around Rosa was right beside her. Rosa softly placed her hands on Roxie's head; then leaned in and kissed her forcefully. Roxie didn't resist— though that was more likely out of shock than from her own similar feelings for Rosa. Regardless, Rosa needed Roxie to know her feelings for her tonight; if only so she could blame them on the alcohol if the feeling wasn't mutual. After what felt like an eternity Rosa pulled away from Roxie, who was still stunned. Her face was bright red, redder even than after any of Sheena's jokes earlier in the night. She eventually came to her senses, and stammered,

"O-okay..." That didn't sound like a good response. Rosa's heart sank, apparently Roxie didn't feel the same about her.

"S-sorry..." Rosa began, weakly, "I-I don't-"

Roxie interrupted her with another, albeit much shorter, kiss of her own.

"If I had known you felt the same way about me I would've confessed a lot sooner." Roxie said, with a gentle smile on her face, "It probably wouldn't have been anywhere near as dramatic, though."

The two laughed, quietly.

"If you want, um, I could... We could sleep together..." Realizing what it sounded like she was suggesting Roxie blushed, and added, "N-not like that! Uh, I-I mean..."

"I would like that."

"Um, c-cool..."

Roxie shut the door and turned off the light, and the two girls stumbled their way into the bed.

They kissed one last time before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Rosa didn't want to wake up from her wonderful dream, but the person shaking her wasn't going to let her sleep any longer. Rosa slowly and ruefully opened her eyes, and realized the best part about her dream was, in fact, not a dream. Roxie was lying next to her, with a light smile on her face, despite looking annoyed at Rosa's refusal to wake up.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

Rosa blushed.

"G-good morning..."

Roxie sat herself up, and Rosa followed her lead.

""I probably already know the answer to this, but did you sleep all right?"

Rosa giggled,

"Yeah, I did. Really good."

"Glad to hear it."

Roxie climbed over Rosa to get off the bed. She stretched, then walked over to the window.

"It looks really nice out." She said, "Definitely good for a stroll around Castelia."

Rosa turned to Roxie, confused.

"But... I haven't beaten you yet!"

"So? You don't need badges for a casual trip to the city to see the sights. Although..." She trailed off, turning to glare at Rosa mischievously, "If you really want to get my badge first you can battle me for it yourself!"

Before Rosa could question what she had meant Roxie had hopped back on the bed, pushed Rosa onto her back, and began tickling her mercilessly. Rosa's pleas for Roxie to stop fell on deaf ears, so she had no other option but to reverse the situation— pushing Roxie off and pinning her down instead. Roxie let out an exaggerated sigh, and said,

"Well, I guess you beat me. I have no choice but to award you with the Toxic Badge."

"Wh-what? You can't be serious..."

"Of course not!" Roxie wormed her left arm out of Rosa's grasp, and lightly smacked her forehead. "What I could do, though, is help you train."

"That sounds fun."

"Oh, it won't be. It'll be like boot camp: no mercy for the weak!"

Roxie thrust her free arm into the air, despite still being pinned down, as if she was giving some sort of salute. Roxie's over dramatics made Rosa laugh. Roxie suddenly pulled herself back and sprung upright— presumably to continue her act— but her movement caused Rosa to lose her balance and tumble forward into Roxie's chest. Roxie couldn't help but chuckle at the scenario straight out of a lousy sit-com, despite the fact that it ruined her act. After helping Rosa get into a more comfortable sitting position she asked,

"So what do you want to do, visit Castelia or train?"

Rosa shrugged.

"Um... I don't know. What would you rather do?"

"How about..." She raised her finger to her temple like she was purposely trying to sound deep in thought, "Nothing?"

"Nothing...?"

Well yeah. I mean, you're not in any kind of rush are you? It's already kind of late today anyway; not to mention it gives us another day together before you have to leave on your adventure."

Rosa liked her reasoning.

"Nothing sounds like a great idea, then."

Well, like I said, it's already getting late, so we better get started!"

Roxie pushed Rosa down to her back again, but this time instead of tickling Roxie gave Rosa a long, hard kiss.

Rosa was going to enjoy doing nothing all day.


	2. She's just the girl, the girl u want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosa and Roxie decide to spend the day training so Rosa will be ready for their rematch. However, Team Plasma decides to cause a ruckus, and Roxie’s role as the Gym Leader in Virbank City means it’s up to her to deal with it.

"Hey, Rosa. Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Wh-wha…?"

Rosa opened her eyes slowly and groggily. Roxie was sitting facing Rosa, lightly shoving Rosa's shoulder.

"Come on, today's training day. You'll never become the Champion if you sleep all day." Roxie giggled softly.

Rosa slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, then yawned.

"I- An extra hour of sleep isn't going to hurt..."

Pouting, Roxie stared dead into Rosa's eyes.

"Those aren't the words of a future Champion!"

"A-ah!"

In a swift, connected motion Roxie pushed herself back, turned and got off the bed, then did a quick hop with her hands at her hips while staring down at Rosa menacingly, like a little girl attempting to imitate a Navy Seal drill instructor.

"Up and at 'em Rosa! You don't have time to waste! I'm going to make you the very best, like no one else before!"

Rosa couldn't help but laugh at how silly Roxie was sounding. Roxie didn't appreciate that, however, and leaned forward, angrily staring right into Rosa's eyes, still caught up in her act.

"Did I say something funny?! Do you think this is a game?!" Roxie said, barely able to conceal that she was also on the verge of laughing, "For real though, get up. I'm making breakfast."

The promise of food was enough for to motivate Rosa out of bed. She slid herself forward, forcing Roxie to step backward. Roxie had an unimpressed look in her eye as she turned, and beckoned Rosa to follow her to the kitchen.

After having breakfast, the two girls got dressed, then headed over to the Virbank Industrial Complex, which— according to Roxie— was where Rosa's training was going to take place. By the time they had got there it was almost noon, and there were already some other people training. The first thing on Roxie's to-do list for Rosa was to catch some more Pokémon. After Rosa caught a few Pokémon (A Growlithe, an Elekid, and a Koffing) and battled a few of the other trainers in the Complex Roxie decided that the two should break for lunch. They decided to go to a diner that was nearby. A little behind the bustle of the lunch rush, they didn't have to wait that long for a table, and before long they had their orders placed and had nothing left to do but wait.

"You're doing good so far, Rosa. How about after we go for round two of training we stop at the Pokémon Center for a bit to heal up your Pokémon, then stop over at the Gym, so our battle will be legit."

"S-sounds good!"

"And if you beat me and get your badge tonight, then that leaves tomorrow completely free for our trip to Castelia."

The mention of their trip made Rosa perk up. They had talked about it a lot yesterday, and though she was really excited for it, Rosa had actually forgotten about it due to being focused on her training.

"Right..."

"And while we're there you can challenge Burgh, and I can cheer you on!" The two laughed.

"And then after we could-" Rosa stopped herself.

She realized that Roxie wouldn't be able follow her around forever, and after their trip to Castelia Roxie would have to go back to Virbank, while Rosa would continue on her journey. She let her head droop. Roxie picked up on Rosa's sudden mood shift, and asked,

"Rosa? What's wrong?"

"I... I just realized, after Castelia, we're going to have to say goodbye, aren't we?"

Roxie frowned.

"Yeah, I guess so." Roxie looked like she wanted to say something more, but couldn't think of what.

The two sat in gloomy silence, not even speaking after their food arrived. They ate quickly, paid, and left the diner, eager to get back to focusing on Rosa's training. As they walked out of the diner a girl ran up to Roxie. They looked upset.

"Roxie! It's Team Plasma! They attacked some trainers, and took their Pokémon!"

"What, where?! We have to hurry!"

"By the Pokémon Center!"

Without another word, Roxie grabbed Rosa by the wrist, and the two ran to the Pokémon Center. It didn't take long to get there, and there was a group of trainers standing together, consoling each other— Rosa recognized a few as trainers from the Virbank Industrial Complex earlier. The sound of the two girls' footsteps alerted the trainers to their approach.

"You're the ones who were attacked by Team Plasma? Where did they go?!" She exuded such a commanding aura that if it wasn't for the gravity of the current situation Rosa wouldn't be able to help but laugh at her.

One of the older trainers trainer looked up, with tears in their eyes, before pointing towards the gate out to Route 20.

"Again…?" Roxie muttered to herself.

Rosa gave Roxie a questioning look, but before she could ask what Roxie had meant she had already began running off, so Rosa took off after her.

Once on Route 20 they spotted a trio of Plasma grunts almost immediately— unfortunately the grunts saw them as well, and ran off. Rosa and Roxie kept pursuit.

"Hey, Roxie!" Rosa said, as they ran.

"Yeah?"

"Before, what did you mean by 'again'? Team Plasma broke up two years ago, didn't they?"

"It's kind of a long story. I can't really explain it right now. I did just have run-in with them recently though."

Rosa, now starting to pant, realized it was better to wait until later to learn more about Team Plasma. The grunts they were following turned, continuing down the path.

"They're headed into Flocessy Town!"

The girls followed them around the bend to see two of the grunts stop and turn around, while the last one veered off the path into the woods. Without a word the two grunts tossed out a Pokéball each, sending out a Krokorok and a Scrafty. Rosa and Roxie stopped, staring down the two grunts in front of them. Roxie sent out her Scolipede. Rosa, however, was unsure of whom to send out. She figured that Riolu would probably be the safest choice, and after their training earlier she felt that he should be able to handle himself better. Still, she felt uncertain about sending him out against evolved Pokémon. Despite her concerns, she removed his Pokéball from her waist and sent him out.

Roxie, not wanting to waste time, had already ordered her Scolipede to use Megahorn on the Scrafty. The Scolipede rammed the other Pokémon with its head, sending the smaller Pokémon flying backward; the Scrafty hit the ground and struggled to get back up, but failed— falling back to the ground, defeated. The first grunt recalled her Pokémon. Angered at how quickly his partner's Pokémon was defeated the other grunt commanded his Krokorok to use Crunch on Roxie's Scolipede. The crocodile Pokémon hurried over to Roxie's Scolipede and clamped its powerful jaws around the other Pokémon's throat. The Scolipede let out a roar of pain, and shook the Krokorok off of itself. The Krokorok was knocked off balance, and Rosa saw a chance for a powerful attack.

"Riolu, use Force Palm!"

Her Riolu rushed toward the Krokorok, and thrust his open paws into its side. The attack hit the Krokorok hard, but wasn't enough to take it out. Without waiting for input from her trainer, Roxie's Scolipede rammed its head into the other Pokémon, knocking it out. The grunt recalled his Pokémon.

"Dammit, these Pokémon are useless!"

Now with no way to stop the girls from continuing, the two grunts turned and ran into the woods. Roxie took off after them, and Rosa followed.

It wasn't too much longer before they found themselves within sight of the small camp set up by Team Plasma. The two stopped far enough away so that they wouldn't get spotted, and began to plot what they were going to do next.

"There aren't any more here," Roxie said, "so the ones we saw must be the only Plasma members in the area."

Indeed, there were only three people in the camp. Roxie scanned the area, to make sure there weren't other members hiding out in the woods.

"Most likely those are the two we just beat and the leader of their group, so hopefully we only have one battle ahead of us. I'll handle it— if he's the one in charge he might be a bit too tough for you at your level."

Rosa just nodded silently.

Roxie stepped out from behind the tree, holding one of her Pokéballs out in front of her. It the same commanding voice as earlier, she said,

"Members of Team Plasma, I'm the leader of the Virbank Gym, Roxie! I heard about you stealing Pokémon from trainers, and I'm here to make sure you return them!"

"Dammit, I thought you idiots lost her! Ugh, I guess I'll just deal with this myself."

The grunt grabbed a Pokéball from his belt and tossed it out in front of him, revealing his first Pokémon, a Zweilous. Roxie responded by throwing down the Pokéball in her hand, sending out her Garbodor. The two trainers shouted their commands simultaneously,

"All right Garbodor, start off with Focus Blast!"

"Zweilous, Dragon Rush!"

The Zweilous ran at Roxie's Garbodor, ramming it with both of its heads. Though it did decent damage, the attack did not faze the Garbodor, who launched a blast of energy at the other Pokémon. The dragon tumbled backward, but got back up quickly.

"Again!" The Plasma grunt commanded

"Garbodor, this time use Sludge Bomb!"

This time, anticipating the other Pokémon's movements, the Garbodor shot out its globs of poisonous ooze before the Zweilous could reach it. The dragon Pokémon cried out, and tumbled to the ground— the second attack being enough to defeat it. Cursing, the grunt recalled the fainted Pokémon, then quickly sent out his next, Krookodile. Not wasting time, he ordered it,

"Use Earthquake, Krookodile!"

"Okay Garbodor, Focus Blast again!"

The Krookodile was faster than Roxie's Garbodor, and its powerful attack was enough to take the Garbodor out before it could even counterattack. Roxie recalled her Garbodor.

"Crap…"

Roxie studied her next Pokéball. Her Scolipede was already weakened, but would hopefully be able to take out the grunt's Krookodile, or at least weaken it sufficiently. With only one other Pokémon left, she didn't have too many options anyway.

"Go, Scolipede!"

Despite being weakened, the Scolipede let out a roar after being release from its Pokéball, as if perfectly fit for battle.

"Scolipede, use Megahorn!"

"This time, Crunch!"

Roxie's Scolipede reared, while the Krookodile braced itself for the incoming attack. Scolipede charged at the other Pokémon, tossing it back and to the ground. It struggled, but slowly stood back up— it was weakened, and likely wouldn't last much longer. It lunged at Scolipede and sunk its teeth into its neck. Scolipede let out a weak roar and fell forward. It collapsed onto the Krookodile and the two Pokémon fainted at once. The trainers recalled their Pokémon. Roxie was worried now— she was down to her last Pokémon, and if she lost and Rosa stepped in to back her up she might not be strong enough to stand up to the grunt. She clenched her last Pokéball tightly, as if to infuse it with her desire to win, then tossed it forward, revealing her final Pokémon, a Toxicroak. The grunt sent out his next Pokémon as well, a Bisharp. Neither trainer made a command right away, as though they were both carefully plotting out their next move. Roxie was the first to break the silence,

"Drain Punch, Toxicroak!"

Obeying its command, Toxicroak ran at the grunt's Bisharp.

"Double Team!"

Suddenly, Roxie's Toxicroak found itself rushing at one of three Bisharp, with no idea as to which was the real one. Regardless, it picked a target and swung its fist at one of the Bisharp. It chose poorly— the mirror image it had attacked faded, leaving the Toxicroak wide open to a counterattack.

"Iron Head!"

The Bisharp rammed his head into the Toxicroak's back. The Toxicroak fell to the ground, before quickly rolling out of the Bisharp's reach and hopping to its feet.

"Bisharp, use Iron Head again!"

"Use Protect, Toxicroak!"

The Bisharp ran up to head butt the Toxicroak again, but Toxicroak raised its arms up, and blocked the attack, then hopped backward.

"Try Drain Punch again!"

"Another Double Team!"

Roxie's Toxicroak once again found itself having to pick one of several targets, with no way to tell which was the real one. It took a random guess, swung, and once again chose the wrong target. This time however, it anticipated the Bisharp's counterattack, and quickly dashed away after its failed attack. The two Pokémon were staring each other down once more, the Bisharp still completely healthy, while the Toxicroak was starting to show a little wear, from the earlier attack and the exertion of all its dodging.

Roxie was unsure as to what her next move should be. So long as the Bisharp could keep using Double Team her Toxicroak's ability to hit it is completely based on luck, and Toxicroak was also starting to get worn out— it probably would be unable to survive even one more attack. Roxie began to run through possible strategies in her head. Noticing her hesitation, however, the grunt took advantage, and ordered his Pokémon to attack again. Roxie shouted to her Toxicroak to protect itself again, to buy her more time to figure out what to do. The Bisharp attacked once, then twice, but her Toxicroak successfully defended against both blows. Roxie was desperate now— the Bisharp's next attack would most likely be the decisive blow. As it rushed to close the distance between itself and Roxie's Pokémon, Roxie realized she had no more time to think, and needed to act immediately.

"Toxicroak! Drain Punch, one more time!"

The Toxicroak let loose one last punch. This time, being in the middle of an attack of its own, the grunt's Bisharp was unable to dodge and took the blow right to its head. It was knocked backward, and fell to the ground— that one attack was enough. The grunt recalled his Pokémon, and when he didn't send out another one, Roxie felt her entire body relax.

"Crap, I'm out of Pokémon. Hurry you two! Leave everything, retreat!"

The three grunts bolted off. When Roxie didn't chase after them, Rosa rushed up to see what was wrong.

"Roxie, shouldn't we chase after them? She asked.

"We should… But my Pokémon are too tired to fight them, and if they lead us to another grunt like that one we wouldn't be able to handle them." Roxie scanned the camp. "They left all their stuff; the Pokémon they took might still be here too. Let's look around."

It didn't take long at all to find the stolen Pokémon, the Pokéballs being in a rather obvious place— tossed in a crate of supplies, just barely covered. The girls didn't know how many Pokémon had been stolen, but they had no reason to think any more were missing. Regardless, they kept looking around for a little longer, although they didn't find anything else of interest. After deciding that they had nothing else to find, the girls decided to head back to Virbank.

The trainers were still at the Pokémon Center when Rosa and Roxie returned. They handed out the Pokéball they had retrieved to their rightful owners, before leaving their own Pokémon to rest up. After refusing to take anything other than simple words for thanks, the two girls left to go and celebrate their small victory on their own.

"So, Rosa, where do you want to go?" Roxie asked.

"Um, I dunno."

"Hmm… Well how about… Ice cream?"

Rosa liked that idea.

"Ooh, yeah!"

"Just follow me then." Roxie said, with a playful smile and a girlish giggle.

It was more than a bit out-of-character for her, which took Rosa by surprise. Rosa decided to take a bit of revenge for catching her off guard like that; wrapping her arm around Roxie's, then gently taking hold of her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. Roxie's face turned bright red as she tried and failed to stammer out a protest. Rosa, enjoying watching Roxie squirm, kept at it— tightly pressing herself into Roxie's arm. That was the last straw for Roxie, though, and she pulled away from Rosa before sputtering out,

"A-aren'twesupposedtobegettingicecre amcomeon!"

She took Rosa by the wrist, and began quickly walking, deliberately avoiding looking back at Rosa, although Rosa could easily see that the color of her face had yet to fade back to normal. Rosa giggled to herself, and allowed herself to be tugged along.

They arrived at a small Italian ice parlor after a few minutes of walking. Rosa recognized the red and white stripes on the building— it was part of a chain, and there was a similar one back in Aspertia too. The line wasn't too long, but it still took them about five minutes to get their order. After getting their ice cream the girls chose a bench underneath the shade of a large tree to sit and enjoy their ice cream. It was then that Rosa realized it hadn't been since lunch that the two had really had a chance to talk.

"Roxie," she paused for a moment, not actually sure what she was going to say, "your Pokémon were really cool earlier!"

Roxie smiled.

"You think so? Thanks."

"I guess you have to be so strong though, right? You're a Gym Leader!"

"Ha ha. I mean, yeah, I guess. I'm not that strong though, really."

"You were though! Especially your Toxicroak! Watching it against that Bisharp was so intense! Like, it seemed like you might have lost for a little bit, but Toxicroak pulled through! It actually made me want to train one too!"

A mischievous grin grew on Roxie's face.

"Really? Well, I have a Croagunk that was left with me by a trainer that couldn't really keep him under control. He's kind of ornery, and might be a bit hard to take care of, but I think you should be able to handle it. If you want him he's yours."

Rosa's mind immediately drifted away from her ice cream as she contemplated whether or not to take the Pokémon. She was worried about not being able to train the Croagunk— she wouldn't be able to face Roxie if she had to give it up. Roxie, noticing the troubled look on Rosa's face, said,

"Oh, it's not as bad as I'm making it seem. You could definitely handle it."

"O-okay then."

Roxie laughed.

"All right then, well, if you can beat me later, he's yours."

Rosa had completely forgotten about their upcoming battle in the commotion earlier. They lost out on practice time, and since Roxie did most of the battling Rosa and her Pokémon lost out on valuable experience. She didn't if she had gotten enough— it would be quite a shame to lose again.

"A-are you sure I'm ready? I didn't get as much practice as I was supposed to. Maybe we should wait another day."

"Nah, you're going to be fine— I believe in you! If you want we can go back to the Complex and practice a bit more, though."

"Y-yeah, let's do that."

"All right! Well, actually we should wait until we finish our ice cream first."

They did so— taking their time to enjoy themselves— before leaving. They were on the other side of the town as the Virbank Complex, so it took some time for them to get back to it. By the time they got to the Complex it was starting to get late. There was still enough time for them to get a decent amount practice in before heading back to the Pokémon Center one last time for the day.

"After your Pokémon are healed up we'll head over to the gym— y'know, so it'll be official." Roxie told Rosa as they waited.

"Okay."

It was only a few minutes before the two girls were back out wandering the streets of Virbank, and only a few more before they found themselves walking down the steps into the Virbank Gym. The main room of the venue was mostly empty, there were some people sitting at the bar in the corner, and on the stage was a few people setting up some equipment— Roxie explained to Rosa that there was going to be a DJ duo performing later. The unexpected presence of the Virbank Gym Leader drew the attention of everyone in the room, and everyone turned to watch them as the two girls made their way to the center of the room. Nicky, one of the people setting up on the stage, came down to them, and said to Roxie,

"Hey, what's up?"

"We're just gonna have our rematch. We won't be long; I promise."

"Well whatever, I guess. Doors aren't gonna open for the show for a while, so you should be fine. Are you two gonna stick around after?"

"I dunno; I'm pretty beat. I don't care much for Sugar and Spice either. Do you want to see them Rosa?"

"Um, I don't really mind either way."

"All right then, whatever." Nicky said, as he turned to walk back over to the stage. He stopped, however, and turned back to Roxie. "Damian's going to make a guest appearance tonight, still not interested?"

"Why would I care about that jackass? Nah, we're beat anyway; Team Plasma was causing trouble again earlier, and we had to deal with them."

Nicky just shrugged wordlessly, and headed back to the stage. Roxie turned on her heel and took a few steps backward to make some space between her and Rosa.

"I'm going to use the same team as our last battle, so you know who I'm going to use. No pressure; you can do it." She said, throwing down her first Pokéball, revealing her Koffing. Rosa, in return, sent out her Growlithe.

"Growlithe, start off with Fire Fang!"

"Use Smog, Koffing!"

Rosa's Pokémon ran at Roxie's Koffing, flames already licking out of its mouth. It leaped into the air, and chomped its teeth down on the Koffing. The Koffing countered, however, by expelling a noxious gas. Rosa's Growlithe recoiled back— the attack had caught it off guard, and it inhaled almost all of the gas. It was weakened, poisoned by the Koffing's attack.

"Oh no, already... Come on, Growlithe, you can do it! Use Fire Fang again!"

"Use Venoshock, Koffing!"

Growlithe, shaking off its weakness temporarily, lunged at Roxie's Koffing. It sunk its teeth in, then quickly let go to avoid a repeat of the last attack. It stepped back, preparing to dodge, but Koffing had a head start, and expelled its green slime onto Growlithe's head. Growlithe howled, and slumped to the ground, defeated. Rosa recalled her first Pokémon, then sent out her second, Psyduck.

"Use Confusion Psyduck!"

"Smog, Koffing!"

Already weakened, the single attack was enough to finish Roxie's Koffing off. Roxie recalled it, then sent out her next Pokémon, Grimer.

"Use Confusion again!" Rosa said, a confident smile on her face.

"Disable, Grimer!"

Psyduck was faster, and Roxie's Grimer was hit with psychic waves before it could attack. The Grimer felt the attack, but shrugged it off, before sending a similar looking attack back at Rosa's Psyduck. This attack didn't do any damage; however, instead preventing Psyduck from being able to use Confusion again. Rosa realized she might be in trouble.

"Oh no... Try Water Pulse!"

"Grimer, now use Poison Gas!"

Rosa's Psyduck aimed and let loose a burst of high-pressure water at the other Pokémon. It was a powerful hit, and Roxie's Grimer was obviously hurting now. It wasn't out for the count just yet though, and let out what seemed to just be a playfully defiant belch, but too late Rosa realized that that was its attack, and her Psyduck found itself engulfed in a toxic cloud— poisoned. She had her Psyduck use Water Pulse again, and the attack was enough to take out Roxie's Grimer before it could unleash an attack of its own. Roxie recalled it, and sent out her Whirlipede.

"All right Rosa, you got me down to my last Pokémon! Just a little bit more!"

Rosa giggled. It was kind of funny to her to have her opponent cheering her on. Invigorated by how close her victory was, Rosa confidently ordered her Pokémon to use Water Pulse one more time.

"Venoshock, Whirlipede!"

Roxie's Pokémon was just slightly faster, and the glob of green slime it launched hit Rosa's Psyduck square in the face, causing it to lose its aim, and its attack to miss. It reacted with the poison already in the Psyduck's body, and increasing its power. The Psyduck let out a cry in pain; it wouldn't be able to stand another attack. Rosa quickly skimmed through her bag for an Antidote; however, she didn't have one. She quickly wondered if Roxie had purposely avoided having Rosa stock up— a way to make the battle more fun, perhaps? She didn't have the time to think about it at the moment, maybe she would ask Roxie about it after, but right now she needed to win this fight. She recalled her Psyduck— it wasn't going to be able to do anything of use in its current shape. She wasn't in any danger of losing the battle, really— she still had most of her party left— but she would prefer to win without the handicap of using more Pokémon than Roxie. She still had her Riolu, Elekid, Servine, and Koffing. Koffing didn't have any attacks that would do any good against a Whirlipede, and sending Servine against a Bug/Poison type would be a terribly dumb move. She had a choice between her Riolu and Elekid. Her Riolu was stronger, and better trained, but the only move it really would have to use would be Return. Her Elekid would be a bit better equipped for this fight, but it was also the last Pokémon she had caught, and so the least trained Pokémon on her team. She thought it over, then decided on her next Pokémon.

"Riolu, go!"

In a flash of light her next Pokémon was standing on the battlefield, raring to go. Roxie studied Rosa's Riolu with a look that betrayed that she didn't actually have a particularly good counter for it herself.

"Venoshock, Whirlipede!"

"Use Return, Riolu!"

Rosa's Riolu was slightly faster, and gave its opponent a hard punch, knocking it back. The Whirlipede was still lively though, and not near ready to go down just yet. Another glob of green slime was sent in the Riolu's direction, and scored a direct hit. However, Rosa's Pokémon didn't have any poison in its body beforehand, so the Whirlipede's Venoshock was not as powerful as it had be earlier. The two Pokémon stared each other down, awaiting their owner's next commands.

"Return again!"

"Venoshock!"

This time, the Whirlipede was faster, and Riolu took a glob of slime right to its face. It withstood the attack, and ran at the Whirlipede, punching it again. As it steadied itself after its last attack, Rosa noticed it was poisoned— it must've been affected by the Whirlipede's Poison Point. Both Pokémon were rather weak now; the next attack would be decisive. Both trainers ordered their Pokémon to use the same attack a third time. Roxie's Whirlipede was slightly faster, but Rosa's Riolu dived to the side dodging the attack, before running up to its opponent. Instead of a punch this time, it tackled the Whirlipede. Roxie's Pokémon was knocked back, and after a moment dropped to its side, defeated. Both girls stood in silence for a moment, as if they had yet to process that their battle was over. Roxie was actually the first to come to her senses, recalling her Pokémon.

"All right!" She ran over to Rosa, and gave her a big hug. "You did it!"

Rosa, jarred out of her stupor, said,

"I-I did!"

Roxie let go of Rosa, searched herself for a moment, then sheepishly said,

"I, uh, I don't have any of my badges on me... Just wait here for a sec!"

Roxie ran off towards the stage. Rosa noticed a tall figure standing next to her as she was watching Roxie. She turned to face it— it was a Lucario. Her Riolu must've evolved while she wasn't paying attention.

"O-oh..." Was all she could stammer out, caught completely off guard. After Regaining her composure she gave it a big hug, and recalled it. She noticed Roxie once again standing in front of her.

"Roxie! My Riolu evolved!"

Roxie laughed.

"I noticed." She held out her left hand. "This is the Toxic Badge! You've earned it." She gently placed the badge in Rosa's hand.

"Th-thanks!"

Next she held out her right hand— in it, a disc.

"This is another extra gift, TM09. It'll teach a Pokémon of your choice Venoshock."

"Okay. Thanks for this too then!"

Neither said anything for a moment, although Roxie had an annoyed look on her face as if she was expecting something more from Rosa. It quickly faded into a smile, though, and she took Rosa by the wrist and rushed out of the building. Once outside Roxie shot a dirty look at the small crowd congregating outside the Gym for the show later. She turned to face Rosa.

"I'm starting to feel hungry. How about we go grab some dinner?"

"Okay, sure! I'm actually kind of feeling hungry too."

"Cool, any preference? Pizza, Chinese, fast food? If not we can go back to the diner from earlier; it's the closest food place."

"I don't really care... Let's go back to the diner."

"All right then!"

Roxie didn't let go of Rosa's wrist, but this time didn't rush nor lead Rosa along, instead walking slower, at a more comfortable pace.

It took a little over a half hour to reach the diner from the gym. It was busy at this hour, and they found themselves having to wait quite a while before they were seated. By the time they had their table they were both starving, and didn't have anything on their minds except ordering their food. They gave their waitress their orders, and, as they were waiting, chattered mindlessly.

"So tomorrow, we'll wake up bright and early, and after breakfast we'll head over to the docks and I'll have my dad take us to Castelia."

"Okay."

"Yeah, we'll go sightseeing, and then at the end of the day I'll take you over to the Gym, so you can battle Burgh!"

"You think I'll be ready for him without any extra training?"

"Sure I do! You'll be able to handle Burgh, no problem!"

Rosa couldn't tell if Roxie's confidence in her was genuine or not, but it was contagious— she found herself ready to take on Burgh, with absolute certainty that she would beat him.

"Okay then! Well, what else is there to do in Castelia?"

"A lot! We can go to Liberty Garden, and the Unity Tower! There's the Central Plaza... We could get Casteliacones! We could even go to Studio Castelia, they always have really cool art exhibits!"

"Sounds like fun! Are you into art like that? You don't seem like you would be."

"Surprised? I probably don't really look like the kind of person who would be, I'll admit. I am though; I'm actually pretty good friends with Burgh, even. Some times when he comes by Virbank I'll go with him when he goes looking for 'inspiration'. It doesn't really work for me or my music as much as much as it seems to work for him though. He says it probably is because my 'wild and untamed energy just isn't compatible with the calmness of nature'." She laughed. "His words, not mine. He said an industrial port city like Virbank is perfect for me though, although I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

Rosa giggled. That did seem like a rather spot-on appraisal of Roxie. Their food arrived after a few more minutes, and with all their work done for the day they were in no rush, eating at their own pace. By the time they paid for their food and left the restaurant they had been there for a bit over an hour and a half. They began walking back to Roxie's house. They passed by the Gym on their way, and the sound of the music caught Rosa's ear. It didn't sound too bad, and made her kind of want to get a better listen. Roxie seemed to notice Rosa's interest, and said,

"If you want to step in and listen, we could."

"Y-yeah! I want to listen. We don't have to stay for the entire thing, just for a little bit."

"All right."

The two walked into the Gym. They were stopped by the bouncer, but as soon as he recognized Roxie he let them enter free-of-charge. Inside the main room of the Gym Rosa was surprised to see that the musicians on the stage weren't playing actual instruments, but instead there was one girl singing, while another was playing around with a whole bunch of electronic stuff in ways that Rosa had no way to even comprehend. The music was a lot different than what Rosa had heard the other night— instead of punk rock, it was electronic dance music. Rosa found herself enjoying it, although Roxie was disinterested. The song they were playing ended, and the singer addressed the crowd,

"Well I hope you guys have enjoyed us so far! For the next couple songs we're going to bring up a good friend of ours, Damian Perry, of Northern Lights!"

The audience erupted into applause as Damian walked out from the right side of the stage. He picked up a guitar on a stand in the back, slung the strap over his shoulder, and strummed a few loud chords. The audience got louder as if to match the volume of his guitar. He waved and smiled out to the crowd, but didn't actually say anything. The singer spoke again instead,

"Okay, well first off is the first song we wrote with Damian, 'Dance Floor Lover'!"

Roxie laughed. Rosa herself was surprised, as that didn't seem like the name of a song that someone like Damian would write. She shot a puzzled look at Roxie, hoping that she knew a little more about his work on the song. Roxie noticed her looking, and, apparently understanding, shouted at her,

"He probably only helped with the instrumental. I doubt he could possibly pen lyric to a song that could be called 'Dance Floor Lover'."

The song itself wasn't too bad. Despite apparently Damian's work on it, it didn't sound like anything by Northern Lights. Rosa noticed Roxie was listening rather intently, although she was completely focused on Damian and his guitar, and looked as if she had completely blocked out the rest of the music. There was a guitar solo, which surprised Rosa, and apparently Roxie too. The song came to an end— a rather strange one. It sounded like it was going to just fade out, but out of nowhere ended on a loud, harsh note, causing Rosa to jump. She caught Roxie giggling at her from the corner of her eye and blushed. Halfway through the next song Roxie tugged on Rosa's arm.

"You still want to listen or are you ready to go?"

"Um, I guess we can go now."

Rosa did want to stay a bit longer, but if Roxie wanted to leave she was willing to go. They turned and made their way out of the Gym. There were a few people loitering outside the building even as the musicians were playing, and Roxie scanned through them, as if looking for someone, before shrugging and starting to walk. She mumbled to herself,

"I guess she's probably would be inside while Damian's up there."

"Hm? Oh, you mean Sheena?"

"Yeah. I was just hoping for a chance to say hi; it wasn't for anything major or anything."

"Oh, okay."

They walked the rest of the way mostly in silence, occasionally breaking it with short conversations about their trip tomorrow, or the events from earlier that day. They reached Roxie's house after a little under fifteen minutes of walking. Roxie unlocked the door, but let Rosa in first. After entering herself, Roxie walked over to the couch in the living room and dropped herself into it.

"Man, what a day! I'm beat."

Rosa sat down next to her.

"Yeah... It was."

Roxie studied Rosa with a devious gleam in her eyes, before pushing Rosa back, and pinning her to the seat.

"Wh-what are you-"

Without giving her an answer Roxie pressed her lips to Rosa's. Rosa was caught completely by surprise, and if her head hadn't been pinned against the seat she would probably pulled her head away. She gave a whimper of protest, but if anything it only spurred Roxie on harder. She pressed her whole body against Rosa's, and every time Rosa tried to squirm free Roxie just pressed harder against her. It felt like quite a while before Roxie finally pulled away from Rosa. Rosa had no idea how long the kiss had been, and she could have easily believed it had been either seconds or hours— maybe even both at once. Both girls' faces were bright red, but while Rosa's had a stunned expression Roxie had a look of blissful satisfaction on hers. Although their kiss had ended, Roxie had yet to release Rosa, and still had her held down. Staring directly into Rosa's eyes, Roxie said,

"I had a little extra gift I wanted to give you for beating me earlier, but there were too many people around. It was a bit more special than the other ones— I don't just give those to everyone who beats me." She laughed. "That sounded really corny."

Rosa giggled too.

"Y-yeah, kind of."

Roxie pulled herself off Rosa, helping her up.

"It's still a little early to call it a night. Want to like, watch a movie, or something?"

"Sure."

Roxie picked up the remote from the coffee table in the center of the room, turned the television on, and brought up the on-demand menu.

"If something catches your eye just say something."

Roxie cycled through the list of movies once, then twice, but nothing available caught either girls' attention.

"I don't see anything... Do you?"

"No..."

"Hm..."

Roxie tapped her foot impatiently as she went through the list of movies a third time, before suddenly turning the TV off.

"I have an idea. Come with me."

Roxie led Rosa up to her room. She sat Rosa on her bed before picking up an acoustic guitar in the corner. Rosa didn't actually know Roxie could play guitar as well as bass— not to mention that she was unsure why Roxie decided to pick it up right now.

"What are you-"

"I have another special surprise for you, a little private concert."

Rosa blushed again, making Roxie laugh at her. Rosa pouted, and Roxie patted her head, a bi goofy grin on her face.

"Aw, I was just playing around."

The pout on Rosa's face faded— she wasn't actually mad in the first place anyway. She still had another question to ask Roxie as well.

"I didn't know you played guitar too."

Roxie dropped her eyes down to the guitar, before gently sliding her arm down the neck then playing a quick lick.

"Yeah, just a little. I'm not too great, but I learned because it's easier to writing songs with a guitar than a bass. Also guitar is a lot of fun in its own ways. Guitar and bass are surprisingly different instruments. Anyway..."

Without any introduction Roxie played through a song. It was simple— just chords and singing— but Rosa enjoyed it a lot. After she finished Roxie bantered the same way she did the other night at her show, albeit in a goofy voice, not taking it seriously. After playing through several songs, Roxie sat down next to Rosa, laying the guitar on her bed. Rosa noticed that she was sweating, and out of breath. Rosa didn't know that even as simple a performance as this could be so tiring. Roxie sat without speaking for a moment, then after catching her breath said,

"Y'know, I could really use a shower."

Come to think of it, they both could. They've had such a busy day.

"Y-yeah... Me too."

"Well, I'll go get you a towel. You can go first. Unless..."

Roxie shifted herself closer to Rosa, and whispered into her ear,

"We could shower together if you want."

Rosa jerked away from Roxie, bright red.

"Wh-what?!"

The look on Roxie's face showed that she was trying he hardest not to laugh.

"I was joking..." She stood up. "Just wait here and I'll go get you a towel."

Roxie walked out of the room and returned after only a little bit. Rosa took the towel from her and went to the bathroom to shower. After she showered Roxie went right in after her, and Rosa went back to Roxie's room, and changed into a fresh pair of pajamas Roxie had left on her bed for her. After a little while Roxie came back to the room, already changed into her pajamas as well.

"Well, I'm ready to call it a night, I think. How about you?" Roxie said, yawning.

"Yeah, I'm ready to sleep too."

Roxie smiled.

"Okay then."

She turned off the light. Rosa got under the covers and, after a moment, Roxie joined her. Rosa felt Roxie's fingers gently touching her shoulder.

"Tomorrow's going to be exciting."

"Y-yeah..."

Rosa closed her eyes. She was actually really excited for tomorrow, and already knew she was going to have trouble sleeping. She found herself listening to Roxie's breathing as it slowed as she fell asleep. Rosa let her mind wander, and before long, fell asleep as well.


	3. Can you still hear the last goodnight?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Rosa and Roxie finally go on their trip to Castelia, only for nothing to go as planned, because that would be boring.

Despite being rather small, Roxie's father's ferry was surprisingly powerful. The salty smell of the air was pleasing to Rosa. She yawned— they had woken up pretty early, though the errands Roxie had to run before they left had them leaving late anyway. Rosa didn't actually mind too much, although their day in the city was going to be shorter than they had planned. Roxie was resting her eyes; Rosa had no idea how she could rest with the noise of the boat, but she seemed to be doing just fine. Rosa studied the Pokéball in her hand. It was the Croagunk Roxie had promised her yesterday.

* * *

Shortly after breakfast, Roxie led Rosa to her yard. She showed Rosa a Pokéball she was holding, before tossing it to the ground— out of the ball came a Croagunk.

"This is the Croagunk I mentioned yesterday. I was going to give him to you last night, but forgot."

Roxie crouched, so she could put herself at eye level with the Pokémon. She tried actually looking it in the eyes, but it purposefully avoided eye contact. With a sigh Roxie stood back up. She shrugged at Rosa with a look on her face that said, 'I tried'.

"Do you want to...? Maybe he'll like you more."

Rosa nodded, then crouched down like Roxie did before. Rosa didn't know exactly what she was supposed to do, so she just tried smiling at the Croagunk. She seemed to catch its interest, and it turned to look at her. It studied her for a moment, before, in a swift motion, shoving her back. She lost her balance and fell to her butt, while the Pokémon laughed at her. She shot a hurt look at the Pokémon, but it ignored her. Rosa stood up and looked at Roxie, hoping she could defend her in some way, but Roxie was focused on the Pokémon, as if trying to figure it out. Wordlessly, she recalled the Croagunk. She sighed, then said,

"Like I said, he's a handful. I have faith in you though. I think you could get him to come around."

"R-really...?"

"Yeah, I think. I mean, you seem like a trustworthy enough trainer."

That didn't exactly come off as the earnest endorsement Rosa was hoping to hear, but Roxie shot her a reassuring smile, which was enough to bolster her confidence.

"O-okay! I'll train him, and soon enough he'll be a great Pokémon!"

Roxie laughed.

"Is that a promise? I'll hold you to it."

* * *

Rosa wondered if she would actually be able to follow through. She wasn't really an expert, but it seemed like the Croagunk might actually just be playing in a rough, unfriendly-seeming way. She had her battle against Burgh coming up, maybe she could try it out against him, and see how it does. Rosa looked up— they had reached Castelia, and the boat would be docking in only a few minutes. She shook Roxie's shoulder delicately to wake her up. Roxie stirred, and gave Rosa a questioning look.

"We're in Castelia."

"Already?" She stretched. "That was pretty quick."

She looked out toward the city.

"Well, since we're pretty much here what do you want to do first?"

Rosa ran through the options Roxie had mentioned. There was a lot that they could do in a city as big as Castelia— they probably even wouldn't get through everything in this one day, considering.

"How about, um... Liberty Garden?"

"Okay, that's just a quick walk over to the Liberty Dock, and then another ferry ride."

"All right."

It was only a few more minutes before the girls actually stepped foot in Castelia, and after saying bye to Roxie's father immediately set off for Liberty Dock.

* * *

Rosa stared up at the huge structure towering over them in awe.

"Wow, it's so big!"

"It is pretty impressive, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Y'know, I heard some stories about a Victini being spotted around here a while ago."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I wonder if they were true. It would be pretty cool if we got to see it."

The two girls scanned the area, as if the rare Pokémon would just appear to them. In fact, their entire time at Liberty Garden was spent trying to catch a glimpse of it. Unfortunately, they had no luck, and eventually left the small island, unfulfilled.

Back in Castelia, the two wandered aimlessly for a bit, not realizing they had no idea where they were going next. They still had no destination, when suddenly someone called out to Roxie.

"Hey, Roxie!"

Roxie stopped and spun around to find where the voice came from. Her face brightened and she sped off, with Rosa in hurried pursuit. Reaching a taller man who was dressed kind of strange she stopped, and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"Burgh!"

Rosa studied the Castelia Gym Leader in surprised awe. She had understood he was kind of strange, but he managed to exceed her expectations.

"So what are you doing in my city, have you come to visit me?"

"Kind of, actually." She turned and gestured toward Rosa. "My friend here is going to battle you today."

Burgh looked Rosa over. Rosa felt a little uncomfortable about the way he was looking at her, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, your friend, huh? She's pretty cute."

"Th-thanks..." Rosa said, blushing slightly.

"What's your name?"

"Rosa."

"Well, Rosa, would you like to maybe model for a painting of mine? You can join her if you want, Roxie."

"We're not going to pose naked for your Burgh!"

"I wasn't going to ask you to be naked!" Burgh said, sounding slightly shocked, "Although, now that you mention it..."

"No!"

"All right. Well, the offer remains, if you ever want to be immortalized in my art."

Roxie glared angrily at Burgh. Rosa was shocked at his behavior as well— this was not at all how she expected he would ask. Burgh only looked right back at Roxie, unimpressed, before bursting into laughter.

"Oh Roxie, you haven't changed." He looked back to Rosa, the expression on his face softer than it was before. "So Rosa, you're going to challenge me? I'm looking forward to it. Were you two headed to the Gym now?"

"We, uh... Actually I, uh, I have no idea where we're going right now. We could go right now if you want, Rosa."

"No, no, save battling with me to the very end! A dramatic battle would be a great, climactic way to end your visit to Castelia!" Said Burgh.

Rosa could only cock her head to the side, in confusion. She was just led to believe that he was actually relatively normal, and the stereotypical artist behavior was part of a joke.

"Also, if you guys wait, then I don't have to go back right away either."

He winked, then walked away from them. He had Rosa thoroughly confused, so perhaps his work was done? She could only look to Roxie, hoping for some clarity.

"Well, that was Burgh... I wish I could say he's not usually that weird, but I really can't. You get used to it, I guess? Anyway, what do you want to do now?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Well, if we keep going this way we'll get to Central Plaza, so how about we head there next?"

"Okay, sure."

* * *

The two girls reached Central Plaza after a bit of walking, where they were approached by a worried-looking young girl. She looked up at Roxie and said,

"U-um, you're Roxie, the Gym Leader, right?" She was on the verge of tears.

Roxie's face became stern.

"Yeah, I am. What's wrong?"

"It's Nuggie, my Whimsicott! We were playing, and then the wind blew really hard. Nuggie got blown away!"

"Okay, we'll help you, don't worry. Which way did it go?"

The girl pointed down one of the main streets back towards the docks. Roxie started to run off ahead, leaving Rosa behind with the little girl.

"Roxie, wait!" Rosa shouted.

Roxie stopped, then spun around quickly. Instead of telling her why she stopped, Rosa turned to the little girl.

"Do you want to come with us?" She said to the girl.

The little girl nodded. Rosa held out her hand. The girl grabbed Rosa's hand gently.

"What's your name?"

"R-Riley."

Rosa smiled sweetly at her, then she and Riley walked over to Roxie.

"Oh, uh… Right. Come on let's get going."

The three girls got all the way down to the docks without seeing a sign of the missing Pokémon.

"Nuggie!" Riley called out.

To all the girls' surprise the sound of a Whimsicott cry cut through the noise of the crowds. All three turned to look for the source of the cry, to see the Pokémon was still at the mercy of the blowing wind. They took off after it. They trailed it into an alley, and after a while they found themselves in a strange clearing in the middle of all the buildings. There was even a tree growing in the center of it— a very odd sight so far from the beaten path. It worked to their advantage though; the Whimsicott was swept into the tree, where it got stuck.

"Nuggie!"

Riley ran over to the tree. She tried to jump to grab it down, but couldn't reach. Roxie rushed over to help her. She was also too short, so she decided instead to climb the tree. She made her way up to the Pokémon quickly, but clumsily. She freed the Whimsicott, then let it drift down, where Riley caught it. Satisfied with herself, Roxie tried climbing back down. She lost her footing though, and tumbled down. Rosa rushed over to try and catch her, but was too slow. Fortunately the ground was soft, and Roxie wasn't hurt when she hit.

"Roxie are you okay?!" Rosa said.

"Ah… Yeah, I'm good."

Rosa helped her up, studying her cautiously, making sure she really was alright.

"I think I bruised my butt though…" Roxie added, rubbing her behind.

Rosa couldn't help but laugh.

"We should probably start heading back."

"Oh yeah… Ohhh we've wasted so much of the day on this. I'm really sorry..."

Rosa was confused why Roxie was blaming herself for what happened.

"It's not your fault! Besides, this was fun. You know what we should do now? We should go get some Casteliacones."

"Oh, yeah!" Riley chimed in.

The two older girls giggled.

"That sounds like a plan. Let's go then, I'll buy."

The three found themselves wandering the confusing Castelia side streets. They were almost completely vacant— even the natives of the city avoided these streets. They found themselves at a dead end. It wasn't the first, and likely wouldn't be the last, but this one was special in that when they turned around they found their path blocked by two men.

"Well, look what we have here!"

Riley hid behind Rosa, who was actually terrified herself. Roxie stepped ahead of the two of them, putting herself between the thugs and the other girls.

"I-I'll have you know I am the leader of the Virbank Gym! Let us by without issue and I won't report you to the authorities!"

Her own fear showed through her commanding facade. These were real thugs; even with her skill as a Pokémon Trainer she had no idea what these men would try and pull.

"Heheh, you need to pay the toll! No exceptions."

"Yeah, it's like my friend says. We would never want to hurt some girls as pretty as you, but if you try to fight us, we won't have a choice."

Roxie glanced back at Rosa and Riley. She weighed whether it was better to just do as the men said, or if they should fight them off. She only had her Seviper on her, because she didn't think she would even need any Pokémon today, and had almost left even her Seviper home. Chances were that it could handle anything these thugs had on them, but what if it couldn't? She would be risking all three of their lives. Rosa could help her, maybe, but she seemed too terrified to even move, let alone battle.

"Well? What's it going to be, girlie?"

"H-how much is the toll?"

"Hm, let's see… You said you were a Gym Leader, right? You must have some pretty strong Pokémon then. Give them to us, and you can go on your way."

Roxie's heart sank— she couldn't give up her Pokémon.

"No! Can't you just take money?"

"Heheh, sorry Girlie, we told you what we want."

Roxie took her Seviper's Pokéball into her hand, and studied it. The girls were in a very dangerous situation, and giving up her Pokémon seemed like it would be the easiest way to escape these men. She couldn't just give up one of her Pokémon to these men though! She had no choice— she had to fight. She tossed her Pokéball to the ground between her and the thugs, letting her Seviper out.

"So you're going to make this difficult, then? That's okay, a good challenge'll keep us sharp."

The man took out two Pokéballs and tossed them to the ground, revealing a Liepard and a Pinsir. His friend let out a Pokémon of his own, a Raticate. Roxie was outnumbered, and wouldn't be able to take on all three Pokémon on her own. She turned to Rosa, and said,

"Rosa! I need your help!"

"Wh-wha-" Rosa looked like she was ready to faint. Roxie couldn't really blame her for it, but she needed her help.

"Seviper isn't going to be able to handle these guys on its own. Just send out two Pokémon, I'll handle it from there."

Trembling, Rosa grabbed two Pokéballs from her waist and let out the Pokémon inside them out— Growlithe and Servine. The two Pokémon quickly read the situation and rushed to Roxie's Seviper's side. Roxie actually didn't really know either Pokémon's moves, and would have to improvise. The man who seemed to be the leader read Roxie's confusion, and attempted to take advantage of it.

"Pinsir, use X-Scissor on Servine; Liepard, use Fury Swipes on Growlithe!"

"Seviper, Glare!"

Roxie's Seviper shot an enchanting glance at the two Pokémon. The Pinsir became entranced, and stopped its attack, but the Liepard was unaffected, and continued running at Rosa's Growlithe. It slashed at the other Pokémon several times. The Growlithe winced and tumbled back, injured.

"Crap, uh… Fire Fang!"

Fire Fang was actually the only move Roxie was sure the Growlithe knew. Rosa's Growlithe lunged at the other Pokémon, and clamped its jaws around its neck. The Liepard shrieked, and pulled back. It was badly injured. Roxie breathed a sigh of relief. Although they weren't out of danger, at least the men's Pokémon weren't absurdly strong. If she could defeat their Pokémon, the men wouldn't be able to threaten them.

"Pinsir, X-Scissor on Servine again!"

"Oh no- use Dark Pulse Seviper!"

She was too slow in ordering her Pokémon, and before her Seviper could attack the Pinsir had Rosa's Servine clamped between its horns. It tossed the Pokémon to the ground. Roxie was startled when the Pokémon disappeared— before realizing it was because Rosa recalled it. She hoped Rosa would replace the defeated Pokémon, but she didn't, leaving Roxie with only two against her opponents' three. Her worrying about the situation was interrupted by a hiss; her Seviper went ahead with its attack, sending a blast of dark energy at the foe's Pinsir. The attack connected and knocked the Pokémon to the ground. It twitched slightly, but didn't get back up, and just like that the two sides were back on even footing.

"Crap..." The leader said, before turning to his partner. "Dammit man, I need your help! Stop standing there and have your Pokémon attack!"

"Oh uh... Right. Raticate, use Hyper Fang on Seviper!"

The Raticate ran at Roxie's Pokémon and sank its teeth into it, causing it to hiss in pain.

"Ah! Swat it away with Iron Tail!"

The Seviper did so, landing a powerful blow on its assailant, knocking it back. The point blank blow was also enough to defeat it, giving Roxie the upper hand.

"Dammit! Liepard, use Assurance!"

The Liepard lunged at Roxie's Seviper and dug its claws into the wound made by its ally. The Seviper cried out again, making Roxie flinch. She couldn't let it distract her, knowing that her victory was in sight, and ordered,

"Dark Pulse Seviper!"

Her Seviper shot a pulse of energy at its opponent, but the Liepard dodged the attack easily— the Seviper's wounds were making it move sluggishly.

"Oh no... Try again!"

She had her Pokémon try twice more, only for both attempts to fail— when she realized she was completely neglecting Rosa's Growlithe. She immediately came up with what to do.

"One last time Seviper!"

Her Pokémon attacked, and missed, once again, but she was expecting that.

"Now Fire Fang Growlithe!"

The Growlithe caught the Liepard off-guard, and bit down on its side. The Pokémon collapsed, and with that the battle was over. The man recalled the Liepard and said,

"Crap... Come on man, let's get out of here!"

The men turned and ran. Roxie began to give chase, but realized that Rosa was still frozen in fright, and stopped. She walked back over to her friend.

"It's all over, we're safe now." She said with a calm smile on her face.

"Y-you were so good again Roxie."

"I couldn't let them take away my Pokémon, I didn't have a choice."

"Thanks Miss Roxie, you saved us!" Riley said, "You were so cool too!"

Roxie couldn't help but laugh.

"It was my pleasure!" She said as she patted the young girl on her head.

"Anyway, if I recall correctly, we were on our way to get ice cream. Let's get going before it's too late!"

"Yeah!" Riley said.

The three returned to trying to navigate their way out of the maze of side streets, eventually finding themselves back on a main street after about half an hour of walking, then after another ten minutes, they found themselves at the Casteliacone stand. After getting their ice cream, the three girls started walking toward Central Plaza. They chose a bench to sit and eat their ice cream.

"We gotta hunt down her parents now, don't we?" Roxie asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah we probably shouldn't just abandon her." Rosa turned to Riley. "Do you know where your parents would be?"

"They're at work. I'm allowed out if I have Nuggie with me!"

Roxie studied the girl suspiciously for a moment, then said,

"Yeah, I don't buy that for a second. Tell you what, let us walk you home and we won't tell your parents the trouble you got us into today."

"Fiiiine..." Riley was obviously annoyed that her lie was seen through, but didn't try to fight with the older girl.

They finished their ice cream, and Riley led Rosa and Roxie to her home. She led them to a neighborhood that, while still obviously part of Castelia, felt removed from the bustle of the more traversed part of the city. It was obviously not a cheap place to live.

"Are you like, the heiress to some huge company, or something...?" Roxie asked the little girl leading them.

"What's an 'heiress'?" Riley looked back at her, confused.

"Eh, never mind."

They eventually stopped in front of an apartment building.

"This is it!"

Riley hopped up the front steps and rang one of the bells. After a moment a boy who looked a bit older than Rosa and Roxie opened the door and as soon as he saw Riley he knelt down and embraced her.

"Riley! Where have you been?! I've been so worried!"

He noticed Rosa and Roxie.

"Did you two bring her back? I hope she didn't cause too much trouble."

"Nah, she was all right."

"Good... Do you two want to come in for coffee or tea or something? It's not much but I owe you some kind of thanks."

"Hm... Coffee does sound good, but we kind of have some things to do. Unless you want to stay, Rosa."

"N-no, I think we should get going too."

"Oh... Okay, well thank you so much for bringing Riley back!"

He closed the door.

"We should head over to the Pokémon Center first. Maybe we can grab some food while we wait for our Pokémon to recover."

"Yeah, okay."

They started walking back. It took them a whole hour to get to the Pokémon Center; where they dropped their Pokémon off and left.

"Are you hungry, Rosa?"

"A little."

"Well, there's a small café not too far from here that's pretty good. We could go there just for a quick bite, and then go get something to eat for real later."

"Yeah, that would be good."

"Okay then, cool."

The café was in an alley, and although it was more open and felt safer than the ones from earlier the girls couldn't help but feel that maybe they were better off choosing someplace else to eat. Nevertheless, they made their way through the alley, fortunately without incident, and entered the café.

Inside the café it was actually surprisingly dark. The small windows let in very little light, and the only light sources in the café itself were a few small lamps. It gave it a rather warm, welcoming ambiance, which was only enhanced by the man playing an acoustic guitar soulfully by the bar. The two girls made their way over to order some food. As they ordered, Rosa couldn't take her eyes off the man playing his guitar. He seemed to notice her watching him, but didn't acknowledge her, although he did smile slightly. After they got their food, Rosa chose a table close by, so she could keep watching the man play. Roxie noticed how engrossed Rosa was, and said,

"He's really good, isn't he?"

Rosa jumped. She was kind of embarrassed to be so taken away by the man's playing, but there was something about his music that made it hard for her to focus on anything else.

"Y-yeah..."

Apparently that was all Roxie had to say, because she immediately went back to her sandwich. Neither of them said anything else as they ate, which was perfectly fine for Rosa, because it allowed her to give all her attention to the Guitarist's addicting melody. They finished eating, and as they stood up, the man stopped playing— the only time he had taken a break the entire time. The sudden silence was actually eerie.

They threw their garbage away and were ready to leave when the man addressed Rosa,

"Did you recognize what I was playing?"

Rosa was taken aback by him speaking to her.

"N-no..."

He chuckled.

"It's actually a very old song, supposedly written by the Pokémon Meloetta."

"O-oh... It's very pretty-sounding." Rosa actually didn't know what a Meloetta was, but didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the man.

"Apparently when Meloetta performed it, anyone who witnessed it would be filled with joy, and the desire to join its dance. It must've been an amazing experience, don't you think?"

He went back to playing without even waiting for Rosa to answer him. Rosa stared at him for a second, thinking he might say something else to her, but she seemed to be invisible to him now. Rosa turned to join Roxie, who was already by the door.

As they walked back to the Pokémon Center, Rosa couldn't help but dwell on the strange confrontation she just had.

"That guy was pretty weird."

Again, Roxie made Rosa jump by deciding to speak while Rosa was deep in thought.

"Yeah, I... It was bizarre."

"Haha, stuff like that happens in a city as big as Castelia. There are tons of weirdoes."

"Uh huh..."

* * *

After getting their Pokémon the girls made their way to Castelia's gym. Rosa hesitated before entering. Roxie noticed this, and patted her on her shoulder.

"Come on Rosa, you can do this."

Rosa just nodded, then stepped through the sliding doors.

The gym was empty, except for Burgh, who was in the center with an easel, painting something. He didn't notice the girls entering.

"Hey Burgh!" Roxie shouted, not only making Burgh twist around comically fast, but surprising Rosa as well.

He glared at the girls angrily for a moment, but as soon as he recognized them his expression brightened.

"Oh, it's about time! I was beginning to worry that you had changed your mind about battling me today."

"I hope you're ready to get your butt whooped Burgh!"

Burgh laughed.

"Say… How about we make this interesting? Instead of just a badge on the line, how about the loser has to buy dinner for the three of us— of course if Rosa loses, Roxie has to pay instead."

"Oh what?! Bring it on!"

Rosa turned to Roxie, alarmed.

"A-are you sure?"

"Totally, you can do this!"

"O-Okay…"

"Of course, I see Rosa has six Pokémon on her. That wouldn't really be fair, I think. I'll use four Pokémon, so hand two of your Pokéballs over to Roxie and we'll be even."

"All right…"

Rosa didn't debate much on who to give to Roxie. Her Servine wouldn't be much use against Burgh's Pokémon, and her Croagunk was too unruly to trust in an important battle. After giving them to Roxie, Rosa turned back to face Burgh.

"You're going down, bug brain!"

"Are you ready Rosa?" Burgh said, ignoring Roxie.

Rosa nodded.

"Okay then!" He tossed out his first Pokéball, revealing a Dwebble.

Rosa threw out her first Pokémon, Growlithe, as well.

"Start with Fire Fang!"

"Use Rock Blast Dwebble!"

Rosa's Pokémon ran at its opponent, then clamped its jaws on its claw. The Dwebble pulled back, yanking its claw out of the Growlithe's mouth, before tossing several rocks at it. Only two connected but they knocked the Growlithe down. Both trainers ordered their Pokémon to repeat their previous move. Rosa's Pokémon lunged at the Dwebble again, only for the Dwebble to retreat into its shell, making the Growlithe take a bite of its shell, preventing any damage. It popped back out and tossed several more rocks at its opponent— this time enough to knock the Growlithe out. Rosa recalled her defeated Pokémon, and sent out her Lucario next.

"Rock Polish!"

"Lucario, Force Palm!"

As Rosa's Lucario closed the distance between itself and Burgh's Pokémon, the Dwebble retreated into its shell again. This time however, the force of the blow made the shell resonate, shaking up and disorienting the Dwebble inside enough to defeat it. Wordlessly, Burgh recalled his fainted Pokémon then sent out his next, Leavanny.

"Lucario use Return!"

"Aerial Ace!"

Burgh's Pokémon was faster, and slashed at Rosa's Lucario with its blade-like arms. The attack hit hard, the Lucario staggered back, and almost fell, but it managed to keep its balance. It regained its composure and tackled its opponent. The Leavanny tumbled back, but quickly and delicately got back on its feet. The trainers ordered their Pokémon to attack again, to the same results. Both Pokémon were weakened now, but Burgh's Leavanny more so. The trainers ordered their Pokémon to attack one more time, and this time the Leavanny went down, although Rosa's Lucario was very beat up now, ready to drop at the next blow. Burgh recalled his Leavanny.

"I have to say Rosa, you're better than I had imagined." Burgh said, before sending out his next Pokémon.

"Th-than-"

"It's because I trained her!" Roxie interrupted.

Burgh laughed,

"You did a good job then!"

He tossed his next Pokéball out, revealing a Karrablast.

"Lucario, Return again!"

"Aerial Ace, Karrablast!"

Lucario was faster, and kicked the Karrablast back. The attack hurt the Karrablast badly, but it got back up and rushed at Rosa's Pokémon. It jumped up, and slashed at the Lucario's abdomen with the horn on its head. Rosa's Lucario fell back— that blow was enough to finish it off. Rosa returned it to its Pokéball. None of her other Pokémon had any real advantage against Bug-Types, but she decided her Elekid was her best bet, and reached for its Pokéball. She tossed it to the ground in front of her— only for the Croagunk Roxie had given her earlier to pop out. She must have mixed up their Pokéballs when handing them off to Roxie. She had no idea what her last Pokémon was now. If it was her Servine, she would probably be even worse off than she would with this Croagunk. She decided not to switch out, and to press on with the Croagunk. She did notice that it seemed ready to fight, maybe it would listen to her after all.

"Croagunk use- Uh…" Rosa actually didn't know any of its attacks. "Just attack!"

With a strange-sounding laugh the Croagunk rushed at its opponent and punched it. It was enough to take down the already weakened Pokémon.

"W-was that Poison Jab…?" Rosa asked herself.

Burgh sent out his final Pokémon: Shelmet.

"Okay Croagunk, use Poison Jab again!"

"Start with Curse!"

The Croagunk ran at its opponent as if it was going for a direct, head-on attack, but juked to the side, then swung at the Shelmet from behind.

"Th-that wasn't… Was that Faint Attack?"

The Croagunk seemed to be deliberately disobeying her orders, much to her confusion. Rosa decided it would be best to let her Pokémon do as it pleased, because she didn't have much of a choice, and at the very least it could weaken the Shelmet enough for her last Pokémon to take it out easily, even if it was her Servine.

"Use Curse again!"

"Just attack, Croagunk!"

It was willing to obey that vague order, and used Poison Jab this time. The Shelmet was starting to look worn down.

"One more time Croagunk!"

"Use Return, Shelmet!"

It punched the Shelmet again, but it seemed to use a different, weaker attack this time, which didn't seem to faze the other Pokémon at all. The Shelmet moved back, and launched itself at Rosa's Pokémon. It's preparing itself paid off, making the blow much more severe than it would have been otherwise— Rosa's Croagunk wouldn't be able to take another hit like that. Both Pokémon were now on the verge of fainting. The trainers ordered their Pokémon to attack one last time. Rosa's Croagunk was faster, and landed the final punch on its opponent. The Shelmet dropped to the floor, defeated.

"Yeah! You did it!" Roxie said, as she ran over to Rosa to give her a congratulatory hug.

Burgh closed the distance between them and held out his hand, which contained a badge.

"Congratulations Rosa, you've won. This badge is for you."

She took the badge from him.

"It's the Insect Badge. Also, take this TM, it'll teach your Pokémon Struggle Bug."

"Thanks…"

"That was a rather daring move, using a Pokémon who wouldn't obey you."

He turned to look at the Croagunk.

"It looks like he seems to trust you more now, though."

Rosa turned to her Pokémon, who seemed to almost be standing at attention. She crouched down to its level, the same way she did earlier. She was wary of how it was staring at her— it seemed to have only one expression, making it difficult to read what it was thinking. It held out its arm to Rosa. She flinched, expecting to get shoved down again. It didn't shove her, and in fact was holding its hand out as if it wanted to shake hands. Rosa cautiously grasped its hand in hers and shook. The Pokémon seemed pleased, and made its strange giggling sound.

"F-Friends...?" Rosa said.

The Pokémon actually nodded at her. Rosa was elated, and even embraced the Pokémon. After letting go of it she stood up, and recalled it. After a moment, Roxie said,

"All right Burgh, she beat you fair and square. You owe us dinner now!"

"I guess I do. Do either of you have anywhere specific in mind?"

The girls shook their heads, almost in unison.

"Well, I'll pick then."

"You better not take us somewhere cheap and lame!"

Burgh laughed.

"I won't, I promise."

* * *

The restaurant Burgh ended up taking them to was actually rather nice; it wasn't a fancy five-star restaurant, but according to Burgh it was one of the best places to eat in the city. After placing their orders, Burgh asked Rosa.

"So, how did you two become friends?"

"Well, I challenged her gym. I actually lost though... But then later we ran into each other and she invited me to lunch. After that, she invited me to her concert, and then she offered to train me so I could beat her."

"Sounds to me like you were conscripted into friendship." He said, with a sly smile on his face.

"Oh, shut up! Besides, you enjoy my company, don't you Rosa?"

"I-I do..."

"Of course you do, how could you not be instantly drawn to Roxie's charming personality?"

Rosa couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Just ignore him Rosa, he's being a jerk on purpose."

Burgh laughed.

"This is just payback for the rude and hurtful comments you made back at the gym." He said with a smirk.

Roxie blew a raspberry at him. He just ignored her, instead turning his attention back to Rosa.

"Anyway, what are you two planning to do after this? Roxie can't exactly follow you all over Unova."

"She's not. She's going home tonight."

"Hm... Okay, well if you want I can give you a room to sleep in tonight that would be more comfortable than the rooms at the Pokémon Center."

"You're not sleeping with my friend!"

Burgh actually was genuinely shocked at that one.

"I-I wasn't planning on that at all!"

His expression suddenly changed, and looking Rosa in the eyes seductively, he said,

"Although... If you're interested, then I won't turn you down."

"I-I..." Rosa couldn't form a coherent response as her face turned bright red.

"Oh, I think I broke her... I'm sorry dear, that was meant to be a joke."

"Seriously Burgh, why do you do this?"

"I have an insatiable urge to make everyone uncomfortable, what can I say? The offer still stands Rosa- I mean, the offer to give you a nice place to sleep, not to have sex with me."

"Th-that would be nice..."

The awkward cloud hung over their table, and the three sat in silence for a little while, until their food came.

"So did you know Roxie actually has an appreciation for the finer arts? Pretty unbelievable, I know."

"She actually mentioned that. It's really cool though, I think..."

"Oh it is! It's always been my favorite thing about her."

Burgh glanced over to a clock on the wall.

"It's getting late... When is the last ferry, Roxie?"

Roxie craned her neck to look at the clock too.

"We've got like an hour and a half."

"Okay, and it takes about thirty-five minutes to get to the docks from here. We still have time then, good."

After a little while they finished eating, and after Burgh paid for their meals they made their way to the dock for the ferry back to Virbank.

It hadn't arrived yet, so they chose a nearby bench to sit at while they waited.

"It's... It's going to be a while before we see each other again, isn't it?"

"Most likely, yeah..."

Rosa's only response was to let her head droop down. Roxie wrapped her arm around Rosa's shoulders and pulled her close.

"Oh, don't be like that, because when we do see each other you'll be champion— imagine how cool that'll be!"

"But until then... I'm going to miss you."

Roxie let out a long sigh.

"W-well, I'm going to miss you too... But it's not like we have a choice anyway. Just try to focus on training and getting your badges. It'll make it go by much faster than if you brood over how much you miss me the whole time."

Rosa just began wringing her hands together. Although she couldn't see her face, Roxie knew that she was on the verge of tears— she wasn't going to be able to hold her own in much longer either. She placed her hand over Rosa's and squeezed them.

"Come on, you can't act like this; it's not going to change anything. I have to go back to Virbank, and you have to go on your quest. We don't have any choices here. We can't... We can't change that."

Roxie choked on the last sentence, no longer able to keep on her strong façade for Rosa. She heard Rosa begin to start sobbing as well. Roxie pulled Rosa closer. Neither said anything for a while, and they sat together sobbing quietly. Burgh, who had been sitting next to them stood up and walked away, realizing that they probably wanted a bit of privacy. Before long the sound of the ferry arriving hit their ears. Roxie stood while helping Rosa up at the same time. Rosa immediately turned and wrapped her arms around Roxie tightly and pressed her cheek on the other girl's head. Roxie couldn't think of anything to say to her, instead just trying to comfort her a little by slowly rubbing her back.

The ferry's horn blew, signaling for passengers to board. Rosa loosened her grip on Roxie, letting her pull away.

"I was afraid you weren't going to let go until the ferry was gone." Roxie said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Rosa laughed, albeit weakly, and she was still sobbing a little.

Roxie took Rosa's hand in hers and began walking toward the gangplank. The boat's horn bellowed again, this time as a last call. Roxie turned and hugged Rosa again.

"I guess this is goodbye..." Roxie lingered for a moment before adding, "for now."

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Burgh came over to join them again. Roxie released Rosa and quickly hugged Burgh too. He handed her a ticket.

"You almost forgot this."

"Oh! Thanks, Burgh. See you!"

She rushed off.

"See you soon, Roxie!" He shouted, as she made her way up the gangplank.

As soon as she was onboard the boat the gangplank lifted and the ferry began to pull away.

Roxie stayed at the back, and waved to them as the boat started to pull away.

"Bye guys!" She shouted, barely audible over the sound of the boat's engine.

She had a huge smile on her face, but tears were still streaming down her face. Rosa, who had almost stopped crying at this point, lowered her head as another wave of sorrow came on. To her surprise, Burgh lifted his hand to her head, as an attempt to comfort her.

"So, uh... You two're more than just friends, huh?" Burgh seemed surprised to learn this.

"I-I guess..."

"You guess? Well, I don't usually see her get that emotional about anything, really."

"Really...?"

"Yeah. She usually just keeps her tough punk-girl attitude all the time. If it makes you feel better, you're definitely something special to her."

That news was relieving to Rosa, and her tears began to subside.

"Come on now, let's get back to my place. You'll be staying in my guest room."

He beckoned Rosa to follow him as he turned to walk away.

"O-okay..."

Noticing her apprehension, he remembered what he said earlier.

"Don't worry about me trying to seduce you; I'm not the type to break up relationships."

Rosa laughed.

"Just so you know though, Roxie is like a little sister to me. You better not do anything to hurt her, you hear?"

Burgh actually sounded surprisingly threatening.

"N-no! I won't I-"

He tousled her hair.

"Well, I guess I can trust you, then."

* * *

"Hey, Rosa, wakey-wakey."

"Hnnuh...?"

Rosa slowly opened her eyes to see Burgh standing over her, lightly shaking her shoulder.

"Time to get up. You have a long day ahead of you, if you plan to get to Nimbasa before dark."

Rosa sat up.

"I've made breakfast; get ready, then come eat."

He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Rosa sat in bed for a moment. After spending every minute of the past few days with Roxie, it felt strange not being near her. She felt like she was about to cry again so she brushed the thoughts of her friend out of her head, choosing to think out her plans for the day instead. After getting dressed, she walked out of the room to see that Burgh was getting ready to leave.

"I'm heading off now. The food's on the stove and there's a plate next to it for you. Just put the stuff in the sink when you're done."

He stepped through the door, then added,

"Oh, and lock the door when you leave. Don't take too long to get going!"

With that Rosa was alone. She walked over to the kitchen to feed herself. As she sat at the table she remembered Roxie making breakfast for the two of them, and eating together. Tears started to roll down her face, no matter how hard she tried to hold them in. She finished eating as quickly as she could. She put the dishes in the sink as Burgh had asked, before deciding to wash them for him as well. After collecting her things, she walked out of Burgh's apartment, and took the elevator down to the ground floor. After stepping outside the building, Rosa looked in the direction she was headed.

She still had a long way to go, only having three badges so far, but the sooner she could collect the rest, the sooner she could see Roxie again. She stroked her Pokéballs— and remembered her Croagunk again; the Croagunk Roxie had given her. So long as she had it, it was as if she still had a bit of Roxie with her.

Rosa smiled, and took the first steps for the rest of her journey.


	4. The best day I can ever remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now champion, Rosa finally returns to Virbank, and has her reunion with Roxie. The two decide to spend some time together, but, on a night planned by Sheena at the girls' expense, will everything turn out alright?

Rosa stared down the staircase that led to the Virbank Gym. She knew this was the right place, but was still hesitant to enter. It had been almost a year since she had last been in Virbank, and just as long since she had seen the person she was going to visit. Would Roxie even remember her? She didn't want to reunite with her old friend, only to realize that the time they spent together was nothing special for the other girl. She slowly made her way down the steps, not wanting to wait any longer to see Roxie. Once at the bottom, someone called to her, startling her.

"Hey, are you here to challenge Roxie?" The person asked.

He was a bit older than her, and rather rough looking, but didn't seem threatening to Rosa at all. He was with a girl who also looked rather tough.

"Not to challenge her but… Is she here right now?"

"Yeah, she is. Just go through the door at the end, her band's in there, practicing."

Rosa didn't have any excuse not to see Roxie, now that she knew where she was. She was ready to have a panic attack, but managed to maintain her composure.

"O-okay."

Rosa started walking to the door. The man cocked his head, noticing Rosa's sudden change in demeanor, but didn't say anything. He went back to his conversation with his friend while keeping a wary eye on Rosa, to make sure she was all right. The sound of music emanating from the main room of the venue hit Rosa's ears, causing her entire body to stiffen. She reached the door and put her hand on the handle, but hesitated before turning it. She took a deep breath, and steeled herself for the upcoming reunion, then opened the door.

The sound of the music once Rosa opened the door was deafening. Rosa flinched at the volume, but nevertheless steeled herself and stepped forward. Roxie was on stage, but was so engrossed in the song she was singing, that she didn't notice Rosa. Deliberately avoiding looking at the musician, Rosa made it halfway to the stage when she heard the music stop. Her eyes jerked up to the singer, who was staring at her with a confused look.

"R-Rosa…?" She said, into the microphone that she still had her mouth up against.

That made Rosa giggle for some reason, and almost made her miss the fact that Roxie did indeed remember her.

"Yes!" She yelled back to the other girl.

Roxie immediately tossed her microphone to the ground— which made a loud sound as it hit the ground, making everyone in the room wince— and hopped off the stage. She ran to Rosa, and threw herself at her with such force that they both almost tumbled to the ground.

"I-I've missed you…" Roxie choked out.

She was crying. Rosa's worrying was all in her head— Roxie did still care about her, even after all their time apart. Before she had even realized it, tears began flowing out of her own eyes.

The two held their embrace for longer than either could tell, as time seemed to completely stop for both of them. Eventually Roxie let her arms loosen, so she could look into Rosa's eyes. Her own eyes were red and puffy from her crying— and Rosa's were the same.

"I... Let's go someplace else." She said to Rosa, before turning around to face her band, "That's it for today! I have other things to do."

Neither of her bandmates made any objections, in fact they seemed happy for Roxie. Roxie grabbed Rosa by the wrist and pulled her along as she ran out of the building. She pulled her along for a while, until they eventually were outside Roxie's house. Roxie unlocked the door and pulled Rosa inside. She took Rosa to the living room and pushed her onto the couch, standing over Rosa for a moment, panting— out of breath from the run. Then, without warning, she hopped onto Rosa's lap and forcibly pressed her lips to the other girl's. Her hands were pulling Rosa's head close, so she couldn't pull get away, even if she wanted to. Rosa placed her own hands onto Roxie's hips and slowly stroked the other girl's sides, causing her to whimper slightly. Suddenly, Roxie separated from Rosa and twisted to the side, then pulled Rosa with her as she dropped backwards, so they were lying on the couch. The two stared into each other's eyes, while staying completely still. Roxie slowly brought her hand up Rosa's side, catching her shirt along the way to pull it up and bare her stomach, then moving up the rest of the way, stopping after tracing the shape of Rosa's ear with her fingers.

Rosa decided it was her turn to catch Roxie off-guard, and pushed herself so she was holding herself over Roxie. She looked down at the other girl with a mischievous gleam in her eye— until her right hand slipped off the edge of the couch, and took her with it.

"Ow…" She said, even though the only thing she really hurt was her pride.

Roxie peered over the edge of the couch at her with a worried expression that quickly faded into riotous laughter, after realizing Rosa was okay. Rosa couldn't help but laugh at herself as well.

"Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah... I'm fine."

Roxie sat up, then offered Rosa a hand to help her up. After Rosa seated herself next to the other girl, Roxie asked,

"So, you're the Champion now."

"Yeah..."

"Congrats."

"Thanks."

"It must have been a tough trip."

"Yeah, it was... Especially because- um..." Rosa's face turned red as her voice trailed off.

"Hm?"

"B-because... Because I missed you..."

The shocked look on Roxie's face was too much for Rosa, and she turned away to hide how profusely she was blushing. Expecting Roxie to laugh at her again, Rosa was surprised when the other girl's reaction was to hug her from behind.

"Wh-what are you...?"

Roxie didn't answer her, instead choosing to silently hold her for a little while.

"I was worried we would never see each other again..."

Rosa's eyes began to water again. During their time apart she had convinced herself that their relationship hadn't been anything special to the other girl. Seeing how Roxie had missed her too meant a lot to her.

"So are you planning on staying in Virbank for a while now?" Roxie asked.

"Well, I haven't been home yet… I only live in Aspertia though, so I can come basically any time I want!"

Roxie looked sort of saddened that Rosa would have to leave so soon. She was silent again for a while, before perking up.

"What if I come with you? Aspertia isn't that far; I can close the gym for a few hours, that wouldn't be too big of a deal!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure! When are planning to get going?"

"W-well, I was planning on staying with you for a little while… But if you come with me, we could leave right away if you want."

"That sounds like a plan," Roxie said, smiling, "but we could stay here, for a little bit…"

She pulled Rosa close again. Rosa could've fought Roxie back, but knew she really didn't want to.

* * *

Before they could set off toward Aspertia the two had to stop by the Gym to lock it up. Without the band playing, everyone hanging about the Gym had left too. This meant they didn't need to worry about waiting for it to clear out, so it didn't take long before they were on their way to Rosa's home. As per usual, when traversing the route, wild Pokémon would pop out and attack. They were nothing to Rosa anymore, who was cycling through her team just to show off to Roxie. She saved the Pokémon she knew would interest Roxie the most for last. She tossed out her sixth Pokéball, revealing the Croagunk Roxie had given her ages ago now. The Purrloin that had challenged them realized it was far outmatched and fled. Roxie bent down to study Rosa's Pokémon. It seemed to remember her, and made a proud "what do you think of me now?" gesture.

"This is the same one I gave you?"

"Yeah, he is! He was the star member of my team once he started to behave!"

"Really? Why hasn't he evolved?"

"He never wanted to. See the little necklace he has? It's an Everstone."

"Huh. That's pretty interesting."

Roxie stood, and Rosa recalled the Pokémon.

"It was pretty sweet of you to use him all that time."

Roxie turned to smile at Rosa, who started to blush. Roxie laughed and started to continue on without her.

* * *

Route 19 was relatively short, and as such it didn't take long for the girls to get to Aspertia. Rosa had expected to go straight to her house, but Roxie asked to go visit the outlook first, and so they did.

"Wooow, you really can see for miles from here!" Roxie said, leaning over the railing.

"Yeah. I always liked coming up here, but whenever I did, there'd always be couples and it would make me feel awkward."

Roxie giggled.

"All right, well we should get to your house, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, let's go."

It took almost as long to get to the other side of town as it did to cross Route 19, but before long, the two girls were standing outside of Rosa's house. Rosa felt nervous for some reason, but brushed it off and rang the doorbell.

Rosa's mom answered the door, and at the sight of her daughter, stared in shock for a moment, before throwing her arms around her.

"Rosa, you're back!"

"Y-yeah…"

Rosa's eyes began to tear up. It had been so long since she had been home, it almost seemed unbelievable to finally be back. Rosa's mom pulled back from her, and Rosa could see that her eyes were wet too. She took a moment to study her daughter.

"You've grown so much… So you're the Champion now, huh?"

"Yeah."

Rosa's mom hugged her again, then finally noticed that Roxie was there.

"Oh, you're Roxie, the Virbank Gym Leader, aren't you? What brings you here?"

"I'm Rosa's girlfriend!" Roxie said excitedly as she shook Rosa's mom's hand.

"Girlfriend…?"

Rosa froze. This must've been what she had felt nervous about: in all her calls home she had never mentioned Roxie to her mom, let alone the fact that she was into girls. Rosa's mind raced as she tried to find a way to explain to her mom. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything her mom wrapped her arms around both girls.

"Oh, that's so nice! Are you coming in?"

"Y-yeah."

Rosa's mom let go of the girls and let them inside.

"Do you two want anything to drink? Lemonade, iced tea, just water maybe?"

"I'd like some lemonade." Rosa answered.

"Uh, yeah, me too."

Rosa's mom hurried into the kitchen while Rosa led Roxie into the living room. They sat in uncomfortable silence until Rosa's mom returned and handed them each a glass of lemonade. She seemed much more jovial than before, for some reason.

"So Rosa, how's my little Champion?"

That nickname was a bit too much for the girls; Rosa turned bright red in embarrassment, and Roxie choked on her drink.

"M-mom don't call me that— it's embarrassing…"

"Well, I thought it was cute… How's it like, being the Champion? Feel any different?"

"I feel the same. It was just another battle… It was really tough, but not that different from any other trainer."

"Oh, my little Champion is so modest!"

"Mom!"

"Oh, I'm just teasing. I swear Roxie, I raised her to have a sense of humor— I don't know where I went wrong!"

Roxie laughed politely.

"So how did you two get friendly?"

"She actually lost to me," Roxie said, "but we ran into each other after, on the street. I offered to help her train for the rematch, and we ended up getting along pretty well. I helped her around Castelia after she did beat me, too. We had some pretty fun times together."

"Oh, a date in the city? How romantic." Rosa's mom giggled like a schoolgirl.

"I-it wasn't… It wasn't a date…" Rosa was bright red.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, Rosa. You're at an age where I even expect this from you. I won't be mad."

"Well, to be honest Mrs.- uh, Rosa's mom, it really wasn't. I went with her to the city because my dad runs the ferry and I was able to get her a free ride, and we only went sightseeing because Burgh wasn't at the gym."

That actually wasn't true: they had made plans to visit the city together, long before they left for it. Rosa turned to Roxie questioningly, and noticed a subtle pink tint to her cheeks. It seemed she was embarrassed with Rosa's mother's questions too, but was only hiding it better.

"So how long are you going to be staying with us, Roxie? Until dinner?"

"That sounds really nice, but I can't. I need to get back to the Gym."

"Oh, that's too bad. Promise you try and make it sometime, though?"

"Definitely." Roxie said with a big grin on her face.

The three chatted idly for a little while, until Roxie decided that it was time for her to head back to Virbank. At her mom's suggestion, Rosa joined her to the edge of town.

"Y'know," Roxie said as they walked, "now that I think of it, we really haven't been on an actual date yet. I mean, yeah, you could say our trip to Castelia together was a date, but with that whole thing with those thugs, I don't know how I like considering that as our first date."

Rosa laughed.

"Yeah, you're right."

"I'm thinking then, you don't have any plans for later do you?"

"No, I was probably just going to stay home and rest."

"In that case, how about we have a 'real' first date. A normal one. One with no Team Plasma, no thugs, no Pokémon battles at all."

"Sounds boring, almost." Rosa said, giggling.

Roxie laughed too.

"Yeah, I guess it does. A little boring'll do us some good though, really."

"I think it's a great idea. What are you planning?"

"Well, nothing yet. I'll think of something by then though; it'll be fine."

"I'm in your hands then!" Rosa said with a smile.

Now in the gate to Route 19, the girls said goodbye, and went their separate ways.

* * *

When she got back home, Rosa brushed off her mom and hurried up to her room. She was absolutely giddy with excitement. She felt silly, being so excited, but couldn't help herself for some reason. She sat on her bed and forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. She decided to keep her mind busy by trying to figure out what she would wear. She had no idea what Roxie was going to come up for them to do, but wearing something simple and cute would probably be best. She rifled through her drawers, but it seemed like nothing in them was good enough for a date. She was almost tempted to try running out and buying some new clothes, but she didn't know how much time she would have, so she was just going to have to make due with clothes she already owned. She picked out an outfit, decided it was hideous, then picked another. She went through about five outfits before her Xtransceiver rang suddenly. The sound of it made Rosa jump. She composed herself, then answered it.

"Hello?"

"Rosa! It's Roxie! H-hi!" Roxie spoke so fast, Rosa could barely understand what she had said.

"Hi Roxie, do you- did you come up with how we're going to spend the night?"

"Yeah, I got everything planned out! Would you be able to make it to my house at 5:30?"

"Y-yeah, I can! Sure! I-I'll see you then!"

"Okay, cool… Yeah, I'll see you, b-" Roxie hung up before she could say goodbye herself, leaving Rosa without even a chance to. Rosa laughed, and checked the time. She still had a little more than an hour to get ready still. She wasn't happy with the clothes she had picked out yet, but decided to take a shower first. After finishing her shower, she settled on what she thought were her best clothes, then took her time putting on some makeup. She found herself imagining a scenario where she showed up to Roxie's house all dolled up, only to see Roxie dressed normally, and started to feel nervous that she was overdoing it. It was too late now, she thought, and began hoping that if things turned out the way they were going in her head, that Roxie wouldn't be too hard on her. She found another problem as well: getting to Roxie's house. It was an easy enough trip when she was dressed normally, but not if she wanted to get to Roxie's house without messing up her clothes and ruining her makeup and getting all sweaty. Rosa plopped herself onto her bed, when she heard her mom knock on her door.

"Rosa, are you going to need a ride anywhere?"

Rosa's jaw went slack. How did she manage to completely forget that her mom could drive? True, it had been months since she had last even been home, but how could the fact that her mom had a car completely slip her mind?

"Rosa?"

Rosa scurried to her door and opened it.

"Yeah, I do! Could you take me to Roxie's house in a little bit?"

"Of course! Oh, you're dressed up so nice! Are you to going to be going on a date?"

"I-I am…"

The way Rosa's mom giggled, Rosa couldn't help but feel like she was the older of the two of them. At least she didn't have to worry about getting to Roxie's house anymore.

* * *

Rosa's mom dropped Rosa off right in front of Roxie's house. Rosa studied the house for a bit, as an excuse to delay what she was sure was going to be an embarrassing night at her expense, and to make sure that her mom was long gone by the time she and Roxie said their awkward hellos. She was, to say the least, more than a little nervous about their date, even if she should be used to spending time with Roxie by now. She took a moment to calm her nerves, and walked up to the door. She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, and before she could even exhale Roxie was standing in front of her. With a timid smile on her face, Roxie said,

"Hi."

Rosa was shocked at how different the other girl looked. In place of her usual ratty, punk look was a much girlier outfit than anything Rosa had seen her wear before. Roxie looked slightly embarrassed.

"Sheena helped me pick this out... I don't look ridiculous, do I?"

"No! You look fine." Rosa said, giggling.

"Then why are you giggling?" Roxie pouted.

"Because, it's funny that you care. I'd never expect you to really care about your outfit. You look really cute though."

"I-I just figured I should wear something nice is all... I don't really care that much."

Seeing Roxie so embarrassed made Rosa want to giggle some more, but she held it in.

"W-well, we should get going."

"Yeah, okay."

The two took off together, in awkward silence. Although they should have long since gotten over the jitters of being around each other, being on their first "official" date seemed to magically glue their mouths shut. After walking a couple minutes in distressing silence, Rosa decided to act. She reached out and took Roxie's hand in hers. Roxie inhaled sharply, and Rosa thought she was about to pull her hand away, but instead Roxie let the breath out, and said,

"I um… I don't actually know the place we're going to… When I called Sheena asking for advi- um, suggestions she said not to worry, and she'll plan everything herself. I know it's a restaurant, but I don't actually know the place; Sheena only gave me directions…"

"It's okay… I'm sure it'll be fine."

Roxie laughed and said, "I hope…"

* * *

Sheena had apparently booked them reservations at a really fancy restaurant.

"Oh gooood, I can't eat here! I'd feel ridiculous!" Roxie moaned, as they stood outside.

"W-we don't actually have to… We could go somewhere else if you want…" Rosa was rather intimidated by the place herself.

"Ugh, no, we're here… Sheena probably had to blow someone really important in order to get us a reservation or something, she'll probably be pretty mad if we don't."

"O-okay."

They walked up to the entrance, and the fancily-dressed man at the front snobbily informed them that they were three minutes late, before shoving them off to the server who led them to their table.

"Ugh, god this place is so expensive. I'm going to kill Sheena!" Roxie said, making sure to keep her voice hushed.

The two girls struggled to find the cheapest things on the menu. They were still looking when their waiter came back, and when he asked if they were ready to order, they both panicked and ended up just ordering the first thing their eyes caught.

The waiter left them alone again, and they struggled to find something to talk about. Rosa came up with something first.

"So how's your band been doing?"

Roxie jumped at Rosa's voice, since she was thinking so hard about what to say.

"Oh, uh, we're doing good. While you were away we did two more EPs, and did some really good shows."

"That's good! Um…"

Rosa hadn't come up with more than one topic. Before the new silence that had overtaken them could get too overwhelming Rosa managed something else.

"Have you fought any really good trainers lately?"

"You want some sneak peeks into anyone who might challenge you, huh? Pretty underhanded don't you think? Nah, don't worry about. Uh, let me think… None that really stood out to me, I guess. Some of the kids seemed like they had the potential to be really great eventually, but nah, no one really was that course you lost to me the first time, so anything is possible." She laughed.

As Roxie was talking, their food came. They both ate hurriedly, wanting to get out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. When their check came, Roxie insisted on paying for Rosa, but Rosa managed to convince her to let her pay her own way. They left their money and tip on the table, and rushed outside. They hurried away from the restaurant, as fast as possible, and it wasn't until it was out of site, that they felt it was alright to breathe again. They both began laughing.

"Oh god, that felt ridiculous! I hope I never have to go back there again… I hate Sheena."

"How about we just forget about it and go back to your place?"

"I would, but Sheena had more planned for us… Next is a movie— ugh it's going to be something awful, I just know it. Might as well give her the benefit of the doubt, I guess, the theater isn't too far from here.

* * *

"Love and Battles Part 3?! Oh no! Ugh, god, Sheena's got to be at home, laughing at us right now. Let's just get this over with…"

The movie wasn't quite as bad as Roxie was making it seem, although Rosa found herself wishing they had gone with Roxie's suggestion, that the sneak into the theater playing Brycenman Strikes Back Harder, instead. Roxie had fallen asleep pretty early on. Fortunately, Rosa found the movie entertaining enough that she didn't feel the need to tear her eyes out before it ended. Once it finally did, Rosa gently woke Roxie up.

"N-nyuh…? Oh, it's over? Thank god. Let's go."

Roxie stood and stretched, then the two left the theater. Outside, they were greeted by a man holding a sign with their names on it. Despite knowing it was another part of Sheena's plans for them, they took the bait.

"You looking for us?" Roxie asked him.

"You Roxie and Rosa? Then yeah. I got a call to meet you out here and take you in my cab. Person who called said not to tell you where I'm taking you though."

Roxie sighed.

"I'm sure wherever you're taking us is lovely… Come on Rosa, might as well see what she has planned for us next." Roxie sounded resigned to their fate.

The girls followed the man back to his cab, and once they were inside, he sped off. He was taking them towards Roxie's house, and for a moment the girls were grateful that their night was coming to an end. Unfortunately, he passed the turn, and soon they were at a park that Rosa didn't know was so close to Roxie's house. The cab pulled to a stop in a lot by the lake in the center of the park. After they paid their fare and got out of the cab, it sped off. Although Sheena hadn't left them any clues as to what to do next, it quickly became incredibly obvious: there was a small dock, with several paddle boats shaped like swans.

"No. No! No way in hell am I getting in one of those." Roxie said to no one in particular, as if she hoped Sheena could hear her.

She stormed off as if she forgot Rosa was with her, forcing the other girl to chase after her.

"Roxie!" Rosa shouted.

It seemed to snap her back to her senses, and she jerked around, but also caused her to miss a tree root, which she tripped over. Rosa dashed over to her.

"Are you okay?!"

Rosa stuck out her hand to help Roxie up. Roxie accepted Rosa's hand and pulled herself to her feet. Laughing, she brushed herself off and said,

"I'm fine."

She stepped toward the lake, out from under the cover of the tree and looked up at the just-starting-to-turn-orange sky. Rosa walked over to her side. She followed Roxie's gaze up to the gibbous moon.

"I was hoping it would be a full moon or something… Oh well."

She suddenly dropped to the ground, and pulled Rosa down with her. Although she had meant for Rosa to come down next to her, Roxie actually pulled her so she fell right on top of her.

"Ow." Rosa said weakly.

"Sorry..." Roxie said sheepishly.

Roxie helped Rosa off of her. The two were sitting next to each other, staring out at the lake, when Roxie stretched and laid back, then said,

"Y'know, the way everything's gone so far, it doesn't even feel like we've been on a date."

Rosa didn't actually say it out loud, but she felt the same way.

"How about we try starting over? Let's do it for real now, without Sheena's help."

"O-okay…" It seemed like a silly idea to Rosa, but as she thought about it a bit more it made her feel a bit uncomfortable, as if it was making her only now realize that she was, indeed, on a date.

"All right, let's give this a shot. So, uh…" Roxie trailed off, completely at a loss as to how to "start" their date.

Not since they set off from Roxie's house had they found them trapped in such a torturous silence. Rosa tried coming up with something to say, but was drawing a blank until another idea popped into her head: she didn't need to say something. She took a deep breath and wished herself luck. She pushed herself closer to Roxie until they were pressed against each other, then let her head rest on Roxie's shoulder. It wasn't until she was so close to the other girl, that she realized that she was wearing a really nice smelling perfume. As the scent danced around, Rosa couldn't help but think of it as blessing the air that the two of them were sharing. She didn't even notice that she had made Roxie go beet red.

"S-so uh… It's been a really wild night, huh?" Roxie said, now desperate to start a conversation.

"Yeah, it has. It's so calm now though… Dull, even."

"Y-yeah…" Roxie let out a small, forced laugh.

Although Roxie couldn't tell, Rosa's heart was racing just as bad as hers, and she was having trouble keeping herself under control so she didn't just hop to her feet and run away, and bury her head into her pillow for a month. Roxie shifted a little and her leg grazed Rosa's. The smooth feeling made Rosa feel a little excited, so she made sure to push her leg against Roxie's a little more assertively. They weren't really doing anything at all, but Rosa felt like they were doing just fine.

* * *

After sitting together for a while, the two decided that they should head back to Roxie's house. They hurried along, holding hands and giggling like little schoolgirls. The park was still surprisingly full— it may have felt like they had spent the whole night together, but it was still early. The sun had yet to even completely fall from the sky. They weren't really talking, themselves, but were picking up bits of other people's conversations, and that was when they both heard a familiar voice, and froze.

"You don't think their boat sunk or anything, right?"

They both dared to glance around, and sure enough, saw Sheena standing there staring out into the lake, looking concerned. She was with a guy, who Rosa recognized as Jason, who was in Sheena's band.

"I told you," he said, "the guy who owns the boats said that no one's even taken one out tonight. They probably just decided they've had enough of your bullshit and went off to make their own good time."

Sheena scoffed at him, but the girls didn't stick around to hear what she said, instead choosing that moment to duck away towards the playground, which wasn't too far off from where they were, and would offer a good hiding place for them, since it was deserted at this hour. They climbed inside the play-castle, and although they chose the biggest part to hide, it was still cramped with the two of them together. They both peeked out at Roxie's two friends to see if they had gone, but to their horror the two had chosen a bench right outside the playground to sit, while they tried to hunt out Roxie and Rosa.

"We have to be really quiet, or else they might hear us. Ugh, I can just hear Sheena yelling 'busted!' and laughing at us…" Roxie whispered.

The two were basically entwined together, in what was likely the most uncomfortable way possible, begging that they could remain undiscovered. Slowly, daringly, they shifted themselves to a position that was a bit more bearable.

"As bad as this is, at least we're safe in here from their stupid questions… I know I'm going to get them tomorrow, regardless, but still: I would so much rather not have to deal with Sheena asking 'Did you get some?' until tomorrow."

"That's so dumb," Rosa giggled, then froze, worried that the two people waiting outside for them had heard it.

It seemed the girls were still safe, as they didn't even turn around. It was so tense for them that each second felt like hours. Sheena and Jason couldn't possibly wait that long for them. Jason, especially, seemed already kind of bored with their two-man search party. Rosa and Roxie just needed to stay close, and to stay quiet, and make sure the other two couldn't hear them. They were actually so close together, it would almost be intimate, if it wasn't so uncomfortable for them. Rosa turned to check on their hunters again, when she felt Roxie's hand on her knee. She started to delicately dance her hand down Rosa's leg slightly. Rosa jerked to look at the other girl, who had a playful expression on her face. Rosa brought her own hand up and placed it on top of Roxie's, to stop her, in case she started to go too far. Rosa laughed under her breath, before shifting again, this time cuddling herself up against Rosa. Rosa could feel Roxie's breath against her ear, which actually felt rather nice. Roxie seemed to notice her enjoying it, and moved a little closer. She began almost purring into Rosa's ear. The way Roxie was toying with Rosa, it was like she didn't even care if they got caught now. With each passing second, Rosa found herself feeling the same way.

The girls actually didn't see when Sheena and Jason left, but as soon as they realized they were safe, they got out of the play-castle as quickly as they could. They were both really stiff, and took some time to stretch, and get themselves comfortable again, before heading back to Roxie's house.

* * *

The sun had long since set by the time they got to Roxie's street, and the streetlights' dim aura gave their surroundings an almost magical feel. The street was wet from one of Roxie's neighbor's overeager sprinkler. They walked as if in a dream, and although they were talking, they couldn't hear a word they were saying. Rosa apparently said something funny, and Roxie laughed at it, before getting ahead of Rosa so she could turn and embrace her. Rosa lowered her head onto the shorter girl's, and found herself enjoying the sweet smell of her hair. As they separated, their reverie faded.

"What time is it?" Roxie asked.

"Um…"

Rosa took out her Xtransceiver and held it so they both could see the time. It was almost midnight.

"Wow, it's so late— the sun was still up while we were at the park. I mean, it had gone down by the time we left, but still."

The last bit of walking towards Roxie's house was a bit more rushed. Roxie noticed that her dad wasn't home for some reason, but wasn't going to question it, since it meant the two had her house to themselves. When they reached the house itself, they heard music coming from Roxie's window.

"I-I wasn't even listening to music before you came earli- oh my god, Sheena. She has a key… I can't believe she still isn't finished torturing us."

Rosa stopped to listen to the song that was playing while Roxie went to open the front gate.

> _"My hopes are so high,_  
>  _that your kiss might kill me._  
>  _So won't you kill me,_  
>  _so I die happy._  
>  _My heart is yours to fill or burst,_  
>  _to break or bury,_  
>  _or wear as jewelry,_  
>  _whichever you prefer."_

Rosa didn't recognize the song, but it sounded nice, actually. If this was Sheena's last trial for them, then she was fine with it.

"Oh dammit, the gate's locked."

Roxie snapped Rosa to attention as she shuffled through her pockets. She pulled out a single key, then cursed.

"I only have the house key, hold on."

She began trying to hop the fence, but struggled— the clothes she was wearing didn't really lend themselves to fence hopping.

"Let me try."

Rosa didn't actually have any experience climbing fences, but figured it couldn't be too difficult.

"You sure?"

"Y-yeah, I can do it."

Rosa walked up to the fence. It was a bit taller than normal, and if she was to tumble down, she would probably hurt herself. Not wanting to give herself a chance to have second thoughts, she shoved her foot into a hole in the fence and began her climb. Getting to the top wasn't difficult, but she soon learned that there was no dignified way to get to the other side of the fence. Nevertheless, she managed to get over and back to the ground safely. She unlocked the gate and let Roxie in. They walked over to the door together, and Roxie unlocked and opened it. Instead of entering though, she turned around so she was facing Rosa. She took a breath, and said,

"It's… It's been a really great night…"

"It has; I think it's the most fun night I can remember having in a long time."

"Yeah, me too. It's the best time I've had in a while, hands down."

Neither said anything else for a moment, but unlike the other silences, this was much more welcome. It wasn't awkward, but more like they were just squeezing every possible second together out. Roxie stepped closer to Rosa and wrapped her hands around the other girl's waist. Rosa heard the song on Roxie's stereo reaching its climax. The girls brought their lips together, and just like that, the rest of the world may as well have ceased to exist for the two of them: so long as they were together, nothing else mattered.

> _"And you kissed me like you meant it._  
>  _And I knew that you meant it,_  
>  _that you meant it,_  
>  _that you meant it,_  
>  _and I knew,_  
>  _that you meant it,_  
>  _that you meant it."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big special thanks to my editor, Rooh, because if it wasn't for his help this story would have almost definitely been downright lousy.


End file.
